Albanian political deadlock deepens with new presidential elections

Albania is facing a critical moment as the ruling majority is about to enter general elections for the first time in 25 years without the opposition.
The main parties of ruling majority, Socialist Party (SP) and Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI), are also due to elect the country's president on Friday, a process that the opposition here has boycotted.
Albanian opposition has definitively refused to take part in by-mayoral elections in city of Kavaja on May 7 as well as the general elections scheduled on June 18.
Despite attempts made by national and international political actors to find a solution to the political impasse, the gap between the two main political camps here: left-wing majority led by SP and SMI and right-wing opposition led by the Democratic Party (DP) is getting even deeper.
DP leader Lulzim Basha told reporters Friday that Prime Minister Edi Rama's government had failed and that the only way out was to establish a caretaker government to guarantee free and fair elections.
"We demand the creation of a caretaker government that will be able to fight drug-trafficking, crime and implement electoral reform, including electronic voting and counting," Basha said.
The leader of the opposition, who has been leading protests since more than two months, said that the protests would escalate in order not to allow elections without an opposition.
He called for acts of civil disobedience in order to block the upcoming Kavaja city by-election.
Basha's statements come after the failure of talks held by European Parliament mediators David McAllister and Knut Fleckenstein who could not bring Albanian parties together around a table to find a way out of the current impasse.
Local Albanian media reported that Rama has started asking smaller parties to register as opposition parties, with the view of replacing the democrats and giving legitimacy to the electoral process.
However, holding elections without the participation of the Democratic Party and its smaller opposition allies would send Albania to civil unrest and unpredictable turmoil, according to experts here.
They also said in several comments Friday that candidate Ilir Meta's election as the new president would deepen Albania's political crisis ahead of upcoming elections in June, which all opposition parties have sworn to boycott.

Source: Xinhua