TIRANA, June 4 – As it was expected the ruling Socialist Party (SP) elected its only candidate Bajram Begaj as Albania’s new head of state in a plenary session of Parliament on Saturday.
The result of the vote was 78 in favor of Major General Bajram Begaj, who was in the parliamentary hall, while 4 cast a no vote. There was one abstention in the 140- member Parliament.
SP deputies nominated and voted for Begaj, 56, in the fourth round
after no candidates were submitted in three rounds of voting when opposition was entitled to present its candidate. No deal was reached between opposition and majority which did not accept to sign for opposition’s nomination.
Begaj replaces Ilir Meta, whose mandate ends on July 24 this year and becomes Albania’s eighth president and the third from the military ranks in the post communist era after 1990s when the Enver Hoxha dictatorship was overthrown.
The five-year presidency has a largely ceremonial role and the chosen candidate is expected to stand above partisan divisions something that has never happened.
But Prime Minister Edi Rama who spoke to the media after the end of the election procedures said he had given Albanians ‘a normal head of state’.
Earlier on Saturday Rama labelled the two previous presidents, that is the current one Ilir Meta and the late President, Bujar Nishani, who passed away a few days ago, as ‘brigands’.
Rama also spoke about one vote derived from the opposition of which he said that the arithmetic figures do not matter, but that the process was done for the benefit of the country and the Albanians.
Asked if there is a lawsuit in the authority of the serious crimes prosecution, SPAK against Begaj, Rama said that lawsuits are a national sport in Albania.
Opposition has said Begaj masterminded the looting of Albanian military naval bases abusing with the duty. There has been no reaction on this by Begaj as yet.
“We have given Albania a normal president, an undisputed figure in terms of the integrity of humanism and definitely the commitment to the country and the people,” said PM Rama who shook hands with the new President after the victorious vote. /Argumentum.al
