Basha: OSCE Report Confirmed Erosion of Rule of Law and Democracy in Albania

Opposition leader Lulzim Basha stated the OSCE/ODIHR report confirmed that the June 30 local elections violated the Constitution and exposed the eroded democracy in the country. In a press statement yesterday, Basha called the OSCE/ODIHR report “an autopsy of the corpse of rule of law, government of the people and justice”, which according to him were replaced by Prime Minister Edi Rama’s “private, autocratic, criminal and personal state.” Basha presented and commented the following main findings of the report, claiming that they supported opposition’s points:

– The election process violated the Constitution and the presidential decrees;

– There was voting but no elections on June 30, as voters had no choices to democratically elect representatives in a pluralistic political system.

– The anti-constitutional single-party voting was made possible in particular by the Central Election Commission, which the report exposes rather as a party department instead of an independent constitutional institution.

The opposition leader called on the prosecution office to start investigations into persons and institutions that violated the Constitution, laws, and internal rules of those institutions involved in the process. Basha reiterated the opposition claim that “no free and fair elections can take place with Edi Rama” as prime minister. Albania is in need of “deep electoral and political reforms”, according to Basha, and those are the opposition priorities once Edi Rama is removed as prime minister. Shpërndaje te miqtë