The Albanian Prime Minister Mr. Sali Berisha attacked the "Black Red Alliance" and its leader Mr. Kreshnik Spahiu by saying that "BRA tested herself during Census and didn’t get even 1%. We welcome all new parties as long they do come in accordance with laws and constitution.” He also used the interview on "Ora News" to address issues with the head of state Mr. Bamir Topi . Mr Berisha went on to say that “When individuals usurp the constitutional institutions they should resign other duties and involvements. I am talking about institution of the President and High Council of Justice. A civilized person who has the most elementary notion of the rule of law can not allow himself that these institutions to be lead by little charlatans who took the most exemplary response by the census process.". While asked about the current situation throughout justice system, Prime Minister didn’t hesitate to blame the poor performance and problems to the HCJ, an institutions that acts upon constitution and is being head by Mr. Topi and Mr. Spahiu.
Getting back to comments he has been making about President Bamir Topi, the Prime Minister said that "It is unacceptable to have a small party of charlatans run the head of the state institution. The President, in a parliamentary republic, should lead as a symbol of unity. Once he keeps a hostile position toward the majority in issues outside the Constitution and tries placing stones under wheels then he can not be supported because these are illegal actions. I saw that during the annual meeting with your, reporters, he stated that this was the last meeting between him as President and you, something which made him get melancholic”.
He further spoke about the debate on constitutional changes, saying that “they were made with a full consensus of the major parties. If Mr. Topi would not agree with changes and consensus in itself then he had the right to make efforts for a referendum in order to block this process, but at the personal level should the constitutional majority agree then that is a political decision and there is no place for individual statements" he said.
During the interview he was asked about the fact that Mr. Topi, a former leader of Democratic Party, is being ignored by local leadership belonging to DP. In fact he has been treated warmly by Socialist representatives across Albania. MrBerisha’s take on that was that "he has been accepted and welcomed by the representatives of the Socialist Party much better than Mimi Kodheli did. They treated him as vice-president of the Socialist Party. Obviously, they saw him voting for them so there is not any obstacle.”
Further in the interview, Mr. Berisha spoke about a debatable issue that has sparked comments abroad the Albanian borders as well, the 2011census. He said that "The President chose silence while his deputy kept saying that the census was an act of Serbs and Greeks. This census was the best census conducted in the history of this country. According to data in this census, he said, there are 330,000 Albanian families that have more than one apartment which means that the Middle Class is real and active, in contrary to 2011 when it was in its latent phase .
Mr. Berisha said that the celebration of Independence Day has been most recent contact he had with President Bamir Topi. As he was talking about the new President election process, Berisha said that”..it will be a process based solely in the Constitution. There is no doubt about it. Always, my guide is the Constitution. Politics is the difference. Those who try to present it as consensus are telling nonsense. Politics is the difference and thank goodness that is. At certain moments, politics falls into compromise, but politics is not consensus".
Continuing the discussion about the Presidential run Mr. Berisha went on to state that” The President will be proposed and voted by the majority and should Mr. Rama and Socialist MP’s will join the vote this will be highly appreciated, however, we intend to go on and put a candidate of ours in this race who will win with majority’s votes alone.”
Reacting upon the EU’s recommendations, and especially the hot issue of Electoral Code, Mr. Berisha commented the request of several smaller parties to amend the Electoral Code in terms of open lists of candidates in the next general parliamentary elections. "Should the open lists be allowed, then they will turn into money race. Lists should be elective and prepared with the democratic spirit, but they can not be open. We should make sure to give the chance to anyone who feels that is fit for the position, but this doesn’t mean that if you have the power and/or the money you should get a card blanche toward a parliamentary seat" he said. Meanwhile, because electronic counting of votes was declared as a failure in the first attempt made to count the votes of the National Assembly of the Socialist Party, the prime minister said that is pessimist in using that counting form next time around during parliamentary elections.
