![\"Tirana,](\"https:\/\/cdn.ghana-mma.com\/2019\/06\/14110929-696x463.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Tirana,](\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/14110929-696x463.jpg\" "\\"Tirana,")
<\/div>\nA parliamentary resolution approved by 100 votes to seven has censured Albania\u2019s President Ilir Meta for cancelling nationwide local elections, scheduled for June 30.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe constitution and electoral law do not allow the president to cancel the election,\u201d the resolution passed on Thursday said, calling Meta\u2019s action \u201cunprecedented\u201d and accusing him of \u201cdenying the right of Albanians to elect their representatives\u201d.<\/p>\n
Meta had asked the ruling Socialist Party and the opposition Democratic Party to compromise on an alternative date for the elections to the country\u2019s 61 mayoral districts.<\/p>\n
The Democratic Party, which withdrew its MPs from parliament in February, said it won\u2019t participate in the mayoral elections, while the Socialist Party insisted on contesting them.<\/p>\n
Meta said this effectively disenfranchised half the country\u2019s population. \u201cUnder the current conditions, the annulment of elections is the only urgent remedy for solving the severe political crisis and preventing its uncontrolled escalation,\u201d he wrote on June 8.<\/p>\n
\u201cPostponing to another date, agreed between the political parties, will serve as an incentive for dialogue on crisis resolution that is threatening the democratic stability of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Edi Rama called Meta\u2019s decision \u201cinsane\u201d in a stinging rebuke delivered in the legislature, and accused him of abusing his office by picking political sides.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat more does Meta want,\u201d Rama asked. \u201cHasn\u2019t Albania honoured him enough? \u2026 He owes the country rivers, oceans of gratitude\u2026 he is spoiled.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meta\u2019s legal adviser said only the Constitutional Court could settle the dispute over the president\u2019s authority to set the date for an election. But the court has been defunct for 18 months as its judges submit to an investigation into their finances.<\/p>\n
However, opposition Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha said the president\u2019s word was final. \u201cThere are no elections on June 30,\u201d he told Al Jazeera after the parliamentary vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever process is being planned by people who should have been behind bars for offences as grave as drug trafficking and women trafficking, but instead are running for mayor or are running campaigns on behalf of Mr Rama\u2019s group \u2026 it does not resemble elections formally, substantially and definitely not constitutionally,\u201d Basha said.<\/p>\n
Basha also warned that if the government proceeded with the vote, it would be \u201ctantamount to a coup d\u2019etat, and the political opposition will call upon the people of Albania to do nothing less and nothing more than what civilised western societies would do in similar conditions.\u201d He did not elaborate.<\/p>\n
Basha has until now called upon opposition voters, who garnered 48 percent of the nationwide vote in 2017 general elections, to abstain from voting.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Socialist Party members are confident of holding the elections. \u201cThere are 5,000 ballot boxes. What are the Democrats going to do? They can obstruct voting in one or two or three voting centres. They cannot do it nationwide,\u201d said a senior Socialist Party official on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
EU membership talks<\/strong><\/p>\n The worsening political crisis came as Albania braces for a greater disappointment, with the European Union (EU) leaders almost certain not to invite the country for membership talks that were scheduled to conclude in the next six years.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the Dutch parliament voted against an invitation to Albania, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a Bundestag committee earlier this month that the country could only be invited in October at the earliest.<\/p>\n Rama appeared to foist the blame on his political opponents. \u201cThe opposition wants to portray Albania as a country that has risen up against a narco-state, and it doesn\u2019t want Albania to catch the train in 2025 [to EU entry],\u201d he told the parliament.<\/p>\n But even reports by the European Commission (EC), which is eager to open talks, have pointed out serious concerns with Albania\u2019s lack of progress in cracking down on organised drug crime, enforcing rule of law, and establishing an independent judiciary.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the fight against criminal organisations and structured criminal groups \u2026 the number of indictments and final convictions remains very low,\u201d the latest EC report said. \u201cThe fight against corruption \u2026 continues to require further structured and consistent efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n Political upheavals are not new in Albania. In 2013, when Rama was Tirana\u2019s mayor and a Socialist Party leader, he withdrew party MPs from the legislature in protest against the shooting of four demonstrators outside then-Prime Minister Sali Berisha\u2019s office.<\/p>\n Basha, who was disgraced as the interior minister at that time, is now using Rama\u2019s tactics against him.<\/p>\n Rama, in turn, may suspect Meta of preparing to overthrow him since the president has often acted as a political kingmaker. In 2005, Meta broke with the Socialist Party and founded the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI).<\/p>\n Meta then helped form a coalition government led by the Democratic Party in 2009, and switched sides again to support a Socialist-led coalition government in 2013. Even though Meta broke formal ties with the LSI after he became the president, it is currently led by his wife, Monika Kryemadhi.<\/p>\n Internecine politics aside, the pursuit of an EU membership is a goal an overwhelming majority of Albanians support. The leader who convinces voters of being able to achieve that is likely to garner most support.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n