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President Ilir Meta decreed on Saturday the appointment of Edi Rama Prime Minister of Albania, official presidential and government sources said on Saturday.
With a special decree that entered into force immediately, President Meta appointed Rama as Prime Minister, according to the proposal of the ruling Socialist Party, which turned out to have the majority of seats in the Parliament.
The decree comes after the general elections for the Albanian Parliament held on April 25 and the final result was announced by the Central Election Commission formalizing SP’s victory despite the accusations of the opposition for manipulations.
The Democratic Party (DP) suffered the third consecutive failure in the face of Rama’s SP, and a scandal has erupted in the ranks of the main political force as current DP head Lulzim Basha expelled veteran leader of that political force Sali Berisha from the parliamentary group on Friday. Berisha declared on Saturday that elections were not manipulated but were lost by Basha.
The decree was issued after the start of the tenth Legislature, with the convening and holding of the first meeting of the newly elected Parliament on Friday during which Lindita Nikolla was elected as the new Speaker.
President Meta had strained relations with PM Edi Rama before the holding of the elections accusing him of violating democracy in Albania. Rama has had the support of the US Embassy and the EU Delegation to Tirana according to whom the elections were held regularly in a democratic atmosphere. /argumentum.al
