European Forum

Albanian opposition stages mass protests against government

Tens of thousands of supporters of the main Albanian opposition Socialist Party (SPA) on Friday (30 April) have marched in the capital Tirana to demand reopening ballot boxes from last year's election, amid claims of vote-rigging. The demonstrators vowed to stay in Tirana's main square until the government gave in to their demands. Organisers claimed there were up to 200,000 people at the rally, although there was no official figure. It was the largest street protest against the election result so far.

The protesters, many of whom were to be bussed into the city by their MPs from the opposition party, congregated in front of the Albanian government building in Tirana. “The reason for these protests can be found in the all-encompassing crisis that has engulfed the country,” Socialist leader Edi Rama told a local television channel a day prior to the protests. Rama called on the demonstrators to show "peaceful resistance" during Friday's march. Rama, who is also mayor of Tirana, urged a campaign of disobedience against the government until the demand for a recount was met. "We must all tell the government that its fate begins and ends with our call: open the ballot boxes or leave," Mr Rama was quoted as saying by an unknown source. Hundreds of policemen guarded the square as the government dismissed the protesters' demands as illegal.

Ungoing political stalemate
Prime Minister Sali Berisha and Rama have been locked in a stalemate over the results of the June 28, 2009 parliamentary elections, which Berisha's ruling right-wing party narrowly won. Mr Berisha's Democrats and allies control 75 of parliament's 140 seats.

The Socialists have boycotted parliament since the new session began in September, claiming that the government’s alleged fraud was to blame for their electoral loss. They have conditioned their full participation in parliament on a recount of the electoral ballots of the parliamentary poll. "This is the final moment," Gramoc Ruci, a Socialist leader, told the crowd on Friday.

Although declaring his openness to a parliamentary investigation of the election, Prime Minister Berisha has stubbornly rejected the possibility of a recount. He argues that the opposition has exhausted all legal options and that he cannot override the judicial process. Despite mediation from the Albanian President Bamir Topi and the Council of Europe, both sides remain firm in their position, while the stalemate is stagnating the country’s progress toward European Union integration.

Sources: Balkan Insight; SE Times; BBC