Today's parliamentary session was accompanied by strong tensions, after the opposition blocked the rostrum to prevent the reporting of the People's Advocate, Endri Shabani. The chairman of the DP parliamentary group, Gazment Bardhi, described Shabani's appearance in the Assembly as a provocation, stating that he was elected in violation of the Constitution and that the case is still under review by the Constitutional Court.
Bardhi accused Shabani of being "Rama's soldier" and demanded his removal from the hall, while Democratic MPs surrounded the podium, forcing the chairman of the session, Niko Peleshi, to suspend proceedings for five minutes.
However, beyond today's political clash, one fact remains difficult to ignore. Not more than six months ago, a number of Democratic Party deputies had personally signed their support for Endri Shabani's candidacy for the position of Ombudsman.
This raises an inevitable question: what has changed in just six months? Has Endri Shabani changed, or has the political stance of the Democratic Party changed?
While the Constitutional Court is expected to give its word on the legality of the procedure, the signatures of the Democratic MPs themselves remain a political fact that makes the narrative constructed today in the Assembly hall much more difficult. This is because, before being called "Rama's soldier", Shabani was a name that a part of the opposition had chosen to support with its signature.
