The mandate of the People's Advocate, Erinda Ballanca, has expired in mid-2022. Meanwhile, the Assembly's announcements for the vacancy have been repeated 3 times so far, but in the first 2 rounds, the Assembly has failed to elect the People's Advocate.
The election of the Ombudsman, throughout the history of the implementation of the provisions of the relevant law, has often gone through political consensus, within which the opposition presents names that are acceptable to the majority. The current Ombudsman also belongs to this type of negotiation. To return a little to the history of the election of Erinda Ballance, her name came as a proposal of Sali Berisha through Lulzim Basha and was accepted by Edi Rama as a candidacy.
But what has been happening for 3 years?
In the first 2 rounds, the new Parliament failed to elect the Ombudsman.
The tactic followed by the SP in the first round, in mid-2022, meaninglessly changed the process, which from a negotiation process with the DP turned into a process where the SP excluded itself. This tactic, which began with the statement "the lawyer belongs to the opposition", could be fueled by the unrealistic conviction of the SP exponents, who believe that we can negotiate as equals with Sali Berisha.
Moreover, their conviction grew even more when in the first round they had to do this through Lulzim Basha! The first round of 2022 failed because the opposition misused a tradition that is not based on the procedures provided for by law.
But it failed more because of the SP's self-confidence that it can manage a negotiation process with Berisha, bypassing legal procedures.
In a process that does not go beyond the law, you can hardly bring into play, use and even less abuse Berisha.
Outside the law, Berisha is king!
The first round failed because no provision of the law was applied.
The candidacies were approved en bloc, without being selected at all according to the criteria of the law, with the slogan "let's all approve them because we will choose the one we want ourselves". But the legal provision fell and the consequences took very little time to come. The SP ordered its members not to sign for any candidate. The order was beyond the provision of the law, which includes the support of all members of the Assembly in the signatures. The SP, with statements like "we have left it in the hands of the DP", was annihilating the legal process. The legal provision fell, the consequences were not long in coming!
The opposition signed and filled out a list of 12 candidates throughout the summer, and the lists were submitted to the Assembly.
On that occasion, the provision of Article 9 of the law also fell.
The same one that Gazmend Bardhi is raising today, after the Laws Committee raised it, but no one has heard it today either. Not even Gazi himself!
Meanwhile, the SP, even in the first round (like today), pretended not to be interested in the process, while its exponents frequently cited the name of their preferred candidate in informal meetings. While the DP played its own game, the SP destroyed one by one the legal provisions that were the only ones that could ensure the success of the process. In a game where everyone burns what they can, the opposition withdrew its supporting signatures and the SP accepted the withdrawal. The next provision fell, while the consequences will continue for a long time.
In the first round of voting, the Socialist Party (PS) defeated the only opposition candidate on the grounds that the opposition's right to propose could not override the majority's right to accept. There could be no blind acceptance! This logic brought back into action all the provisions that had been dropped, but the sound now resembled conflict, not the reconstruction of the process.
The second round began in August 2023. It was almost identical to the first, with the only difference being that the majority was helped by the end of the legislature. Berisha hid behind Ndregjoni, and he also hid from the voting on the candidacies in the session.
Today we are in the third round!
Nothing has changed!
The SP is implementing the same scheme of overturning the provisions of the law. Meanwhile, Berisha, who now no longer needs to hide behind Lulzim Basha, is implementing the same scheme of eliminating candidates. For its part, the SP continues to repeat with all generosity that the ombudsman is up to the opposition to propose him and forgets that the responsibility for the failure of his election lies with the majority.
While the failure benefits Berisha doubly.
First, it discredits the majority as incapable of maintaining independent institutions and renewing the mandates of leaders.
