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Europe
Albania |
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Last reviewed: 16 March 2009 |
Country information
Politics
The new, SP Prime Minister, Pandeli Majko, brought some political and economic stability to Albania. Reforms continued throughout 1998: a constitutional referendum was held and a new constitution adopted; there was increasing respect for human rights; a law was passed on freedom of the press and there were moves towards de-centralisation. During the 1999 Kosovo crisis, Albania remained stable and played a positive role opening up its borders to take in half a million refugees. It was praised by the international community for its constructive role and its generosity during the conflict.Since 1999, there have been a number of changes of Prime Minister (see below), including the return to power of Dr Sali Berisha following the 2005 parliamentary elections. During this time Albania has pursued closer relations with the European Union. The overwhelming majority of the population wants EU membership and increased prosperity. The current government shares these goals and is trying to stimulate inward investment and economic development, strengthening the rule of law and implementing the key reforms set out in Albania's European Partnership. A major milestone was reached in June 2006 when Albania signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Union, bringing it one step closer to membership. Albania is currently working to implement the agreement, which will come into force once ratified by all EU Member States.
Constitution
Albania is a parliamentary democracy. The Albanian Constitution was adopted by referendum on 22 November 1998 and came into effect shortly afterwards. The Constitution sets out the basis for an executive consisting of the President and Council of Ministers, a parliamentary assembly, and a judiciary including the Constitutional Court and High Court.
The President is elected for a 5-year term by a three-fifths majority of Members of Parliament. No president may serve more than 2 terms in office. The current incumbent is President Bamir Topi who took over from President Alfred Moisiu in July 2007. The President is the constitutional Head of State but, in practice, has limited powers.
The Council of Ministers performs the main executive functions of government and includes the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and line ministers. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President but must be approved by Parliament, and is usually the leader of the largest party in the governing coalition. The current Prime Minister is Dr Sali Berisha, who came to power following the 2005 parliamentary elections.
The Parliamentary Assembly consists of 140 Members of Parliament, or 'deputies'. The Assembly is elected for a four-year term, by a mixture of first-past-the-post and party-list proportional representation. The current governing coalition is led by the Democratic Party (DP), and the Opposition is led by the Socialist Party (SP).
Albania passed constitutional changes in April 2008 to create a new electoral system. The previous arrangement elected 100 constituency based MPs on a simple majority system and 40 MPs nationally on a proportional open list system. Now, replicating the Spanish system, there will be a closed list proportional representation on a regional basis. This system has been agreed by the two main parties, Democratic Party and Socialist Party and will be used for the general elections in the summer of 2009.
Political parties
Listed below are the main political parties in Albania grouped by the coalition to which they currently belong - Government or Opposition.Government
- Democratic Party (DP) - ruling party
- Republican party (RP)
- New Democratic Party (NDP)
- Environmentalist Agrarian Party (EAP)
- Human Rights Union Party (HRUP)
- Christian Democratic Party (DCP)
- Liberal Democratic Union Party (LDUP).
Opposition:
- Socialist Party (SP)
- Social Movement for Integration (SMI)
- Social Democratic Party (SDP)
- Democratic Alliance Party (DAP)
- Social Democracy Party (SDY).
The splitting of the left-wing vote and allegations of corruption were some of the reasons that led to the SP losing power in the July 2005 elections. It won only 42 seats and is now in opposition.
The SP defines itself as a social democratic party. As in 2003, the SP fought the election on what it regarded as its successes in government. It is pro-EU and NATO and seeks to 'bring Albanians closer to Europe'. Its election campaign focused on five areas: education, health, the economy, social services and infrastructure.
Recent political developments
The most recent parliamentary elections were held on 3 July 2005. Despite failing to fully meet international standards, the elections were judged to represent an improvement over previous ones, and resulted in a victory for a coalition led by the Democratic Party. DP leader Sali Berisha became Prime Minister once again with a mandate to tackle the problems of corruption and organised crime.
The tone of political debate gradually deteriorated during 2006, with disagreement focussed on the preparations for the local government elections due in early 2007. There were boycotts of parliament and the opposition (led by the SP) threatened to boycott the elections. An eleventh-hour agreement was finally reached on 12 January 2007, but for several months attention was distracted from the business of reform, and events reflected badly on both the government and the opposition. Election Day itself passed relatively peacefully although some disputes and disturbances were reported during the counting process, delaying the finalisation of results. Across the country the governing coalition achieved a significant share of the vote, while the opposition coalition enjoyed strong results in most of the major towns. Socialist Party leader Edi Rama beat his DP challenger, Sokol Olldashi, to retain his seat as Mayor of Tirana.
On 20 July 2007, the Albanian Parliament elected Bamir Topi to be the fifth President of the Republic. Topi was the official candidate of the Democratic Party (DP) and a senior Member of Parliament. Following a tense process, which at times did not look certain to produce a result, Topi eventually secured 85 votes – just one more than the minimum needed for the three-fifths majority required. Having resigned from Parliament and the DP, as required by the Albanian Constitution, Topi was sworn in as President on 24 July taking over from the previous incumbent, President Alfred Moisiu.
Ammunition explosion at Gerdec
An explosion at a munitions storage facility occurred on Saturday 15 March 2008 in Gerdec, 18 km outside of Tirana. The explosion killed 26 people, some children and caused widespread damage to surrounding homes.
The President of Albania, Bamir Topi, called for a thorough investigation to be carried out as reports surfaced after the event that children were being employed to work at the facility and that old ammunition from the 1960’s was being cleaned, repackaged and sold on. Allegations surfaced that the Defence Minister at the time, Fatmir Mediu, was aware of the work that was being carried out there. The investigation is still ongoing, but Mediu resigned shortly after the explosion on 17 March 2008 as a result of the allegations against him. Gazmend Oketa, former Deputy Prime Minister, officially replaced Mediu, on 28 March 2008. The incident has caused immense press interest in the Albanian and American press.
