No winner in first presidential ballot in Albania

No winner in first presidential ballot in Albania

As the left boycotted the vote, a rump of 80 deputies from the ruling party was left to choose between Bamir Topi and Fatos Nano.  Topi is the deputy head of the Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha, while Nano is a previous prime minister and former head of the Socialist Party until the July 2005 elections.

Topi received 75 votes and Nano just three. But a minimum of 84 out of the 140 deputies in parliament is required for a valid vote, Topi’s victory was not enough for him to become President.

The Socialists, headed by Tirana mayor Edi Rama, boycotted the vote after the deal to elect a consensus candidate fell through.

Rama warned in a press conference after the vote “that the Socialists were switching on their engines for early elections.”

Negotiations between the opposition and the majority had earlier brokered a deal that General Arjan Zaimi, Albania’s representative to NATO, would be the joint candidate of both parties.

The deal fell through after the government insisted the deal include an agreement on reforms, one of which would shorten the mandate of the Chief Prosecutor, Theodhori Sollaku, to five years.

Under the current constitution, the Chief Prosecutor has a mandate for life and can only be removed by the President on the recommendation of parliament.

Berisha has accused Sollaku of corruption and has tried unsuccessfully to sack him, but the current President, Alfred Moisiu, has refused to help remove him.

Sunday was the first time that deputies had voted for presidential candidates. Two further ballots can be held before President Moisiu’s mandate expires on July 24. If a new president is not selected after five rounds of voting, parliament must be dissolved and early elections called within 60 days.