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Standoff in Parliamentary Ballot to Pick New Albanian President

11 07 2007  Tirana_ Albania moved one step closer to early elections after a second round of voting in parliament failed to produce the votes necessary to select the next head of state.

Two candidates again competed for the post on Tuesday after negotiations fell through for a consensus candidate. But leftist members of parliament boycotted the vote, leaving 82 deputies in the chamber to choose between Bamir Topi and Fatos Nano. A minimum of 84 out of the 140 deputies in parliament must take part in the vote,

Topi is deputy head of Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s centre-right Democratic Party. Nano is a previous prime minister and former head of the Socialist Party until the July 2005 elections.   

Topi received 74 votes and Nano five on Tuesday.  

An agreement negotiated last week for a consensus candidate fell through after the Berisha government insisted the arrangement include a deal to shorten the mandate of Chief Prosecutor Theodhori Sollaku to five years.  

The chief prosecutor has a mandate for life under Albania’s constitution. He can be removed only by the president on the recommendation of parliament.  

Berisha has accused Sollaku of corruption, but the current president, Alfred Moisiu, has refused to remove him.  

Sollaku said Tuesday that Berisha was unfairly placing him in the middle of the political standoff.  

“It is a problem of the politicians to resolve the crisis. They either agree or should go into early elections. Berisha should not slander my name. He is turning himself into a banana republic premier,” Sollaku said.        

In addition to twice voting inconclusively for presidential candidates, parliament failed in two prior sessions to select a consensus choice. Two further ballots can be held before the end of Moisiu’s term on 24 July.  If a president is not selected within five rounds of voting, the constitution requires that the chamber be dissolved and elections called within sixty days.    

In a bid to woo MPs from the left to vote for Topi, Berisha dangled the possibility of inclusion in his center-right coalition.  

“We are open to deputies and political forces who want to cooperate for the selection of the new president,” he said.