After the statement of the chief democrat Sali Berisha, the chairman of the Parliamentary Group of the Democratic Party, Gazment Bardhi, reacted after voting on the changes to the Electoral Code yesterday, saying that three decisions of the Constitutional Court were respected and no Electoral Reform was approved.
Bardhi writes that in the new parliamentary session it is the duty of the opposition to continue efforts for a meaningful Electoral Reform.
For this, it also appeals to international partners to encourage the fulfillment by Edi Rama of the obligation for a meaningful Electoral Reform, which not only reflects the recommendations of the OSCE-ODIHR, but also provides the minimum guarantees for the equality of the competing parties and free and fair elections .
Gazment Bardhi's full post:
In yesterday's vote in the Assembly, there was no Electoral Reform, but only the implementation of three decisions of the Constitutional Court! Meaningful Electoral Reform has been blocked for years by Edi Rama, and those who for two years left it in silence, even though they were mandated to move it forward.
After fulfilling the obligation to implement the three decisions of the Constitutional Court, in the new parliamentary session it is our duty to continue the efforts for a meaningful Electoral Reform, which not only reflects the recommendations of the OSCE-ODIHR, but also provides the minimum guarantees for the equality of the parties in competition and free and fair elections. The minimum should be allowed what Edi Rama guaranteed you in 2013 when he was in the opposition. This separates democracies from regimes!
But, through blocking the Electoral Reform, Edi Rama, after forcing about 900 thousand Albanians to leave the country due to his 11-year misrule, was also denying them the right to vote. His depopulation plan also predicted the impossibility of our fellow citizens who have left Albania to potentially punish the most corrupt government in Europe with a vote.
Through yesterday's voting, the Opposition, PD, managed to make it possible for all Albanians living outside Albania to vote! Any further delay risked making this constitutional right of our fellow citizens living outside Albania impossible.
On the other hand, the opposition, DP, unlike what was offered by the system in force or the one proposed by the SP, that the preferential choice of citizens for candidates for deputies had almost zero effect on the real composition of the Assembly after the elections, enabled that at least about 40 MPs from a total of 140 to be the product of the citizens' preferential vote. In order to achieve more, consensus is needed from both sides, which unfortunately was not offered by the other side.
On behalf of the PD parliamentary group, I appeal to our international partners, especially the OSCE Mission and the EU Delegation in Tirana, to promote, during the next parliamentary session, Edi Rama's fulfillment of the obligation for a meaningful Electoral Reform, which not only reflects the recommendations of the OSCE-ODIHR, but also provides the minimum guarantees for the equality of the competing parties and free and fair elections.
European Albania becomes a reality only if the country guarantees equal, free and fair elections. Edi Rama cannot hinder the European future of Albania for his personal power.