TIRANA, July 15 /ATA/ – Prime Minister Edi Rama voiced Wednesday his Socialist Party’s determination to stick to an agreement reached with the opposition on the electoral reform last month, adding that a 100% open-list electoral system may applied in the next general elections in Albania and that any amendments to the Constitution are adopted by Parliament only.
Speaking at a press conference, the government head noted that the Socialist Party is the one to make most of concessions in this process, “which in no way can be governed by the opposition that left parliament.”
“Around 2/3rd or 100 percent of the candidate lists can be open in the next elections. First of all, we have set a ceiling beyond which nobody can move. Lists cannot be closed for more than 1/3rd of them, yet this doesn’t mean that the list won’t be 100% open. Gender equality and gender representation will definitely remain unchanged,” PM Rama stated.
“Let’s be realistic. Today’s Albania is still far from being the today’s Finland, Denmark, or Germany. This is my opinion, which like any other opinion can evaluate. The Electoral Code is a smaller agreement than the Constitution. Great flexibility is offered for the parties to prepare 100% open candidate lists, although the Constitution stipulates at least two thirds of them to be open,” Rama said.
According to him, the Electoral Code is not drafted to determine the election winner, but put everyone on equal footing in the electoral race.
“The reason why we haven’t discussed the constitutional changes with the extra-parliamentary opposition is because such changes are adopted by Parliament only. It is as simple as that. Therefore, we were not obliged to reach an agreement with the non-parliamentary opposition,” Rama stated.
“It is up to Parliament to adopt it. Everyone should accept this fact. We have no reasons to think that the parliamentary opposition may reject it. We will press ahead with it being convinced this is in the country’s best interest and it is democratizing. Nothing is perfect. In my best dream I would have wished all oppositions be here or, much better, at the President’s office, and we all agree on this. Yet this is a too good dream to be true. SP is the one to have made most of the concessions, however we can’t accept that the process be governed by those who have left Parliament,” he added.
PM Rama also stated that Democratic Party should accept the reality that it abandoned Parliament and it is an opposition and it cannot impose its will on the governing majority.
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