Albanian opposition leaders stage mass protests
Wed 25 Nov 2009
On Sunday November 15th mayors and senior municipal officials in the opposition Socialist Party (SPA) protested outside Prime Minister Sali Berisha's office, citing government threats to reduce the authority of local leaders. SP leader and Tirana mayor Edi Rama slammed Berisha for "systematically striking" local leaders by interfering with their competencies. He invited all Albanians to sign a petition urging Berisha to stop his "anti-democratic, anti-constitutional and anti-legal policies". Rama also announced a series of conditions the government must meet by December 5th, or face more radical protests.
Rama also launched a door-to-door appeal asking the residents of the capital to participate in the rally. “Sali Berisha wants to convince people at no avail that our struggle for freedom, starting from the freedom of the ballots, is against visa [liberalisation] and EU integration, but a ballot recount is exactly the road towards [EU] integration,” Rama said during his tour of Tirana neighbourhoods.
According to the Socialist leader, the government should ask for a ballot recount, because then the country would learn the truth about the elections.
Below you can find a Socialist Party report of the protests
Tens of thousands of Albanian opposition Socialist Party supporters launched their latest protest on November 20th to demand the government to recount the vote of the June 28th elections.
Holding banners saying "I want to see my vote" and "Where is my vote?," supporters of the Socialist Party, their allies and two center-right parties marched down Tirana's main boulevard to gather in front of Prime Minister's offices.
The SP supporters pitched tents in the street and hundreds of them spent the night near Berisha's office. The protest continued over the weekend.
During his speech, the Socialist Party Leader Edi Rama accused Prime Minister Sali Berisha of the Democratic Party of rigging the parliamentary elections to "steal Albania's wealth."
We would like to reiterate that the international observers said the June vote had fallen short of the highest international standards. The vote count was assessed as bad or very bad in 22 out of 66 Ballot Counting Centers (BCCs).
"Now more than ever we want to prove that the freedom of the vote and the right to count it honestly cannot be bought, sold or negotiated. Unless the ballot boxes are opened, we will not just refuse to return to parliament, but we shall escalate our protest. If the boxes are not opened, we shall powerfully call for the government to go and call for early elections. Our international friends rightfully ask that we return to parliament. We want to be there, too. But not to endorse this ugly history of manipulations and pave the way for it to be repeated in the future," Rama said.
SPA once again reminds you of the fact that it is not asking for a change of result and redistribution of the mandates. The Socialist Party of Albania has highlighted many times that Berisha had stifled the judiciary, distorted the media and ruined free competition.
The Chairman of the Socialist Party, Edi Rama, proposed a 10-day deadline to Prime Minister Sali Berisha to allow the ballot boxes to be opened for a partial recount of votes.
Sources : Socialist Party of Albania, SETimes, Balkan Insight
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