At the start of his fourth term in September, Prime Minister Edi Rama expressed his ambition for a constitutional reform that would lead to “a small parliament.” According to Rama, the Albanian Parliament should be reduced from 140 members to at least 101.
Two months later, the idea is being supported from a distance by the opposition leader, Sali Berisha, who is speaking out in favor of a two-chamber parliamentary system, accompanied by a reduction in the number of MPs.
"There is nothing to touch the Constitution. But if the problem is to define the Senate of the Republic, yes I am ready, we have no complex there, because we believe that it is a useful institution and not by burdening the taxpayers' budget, but by reducing the number of deputies," he declared.
Rama and Berisha's aligned stances are paving the way for a second pact between them, since the 2008 constitutional changes that defined the pillars of the political system that the country inherits today. With the establishment of the Special Committee for Electoral Reform in the Assembly, the parties are calculating the effects of a possible agreement towards this goal.
For organizations monitoring the Assembly, any change to the Constitution will need to be comprehensive and transparent and not lead to 'political bargaining' between the two major parties, to the detriment of new parties.
“Any consensual agreement between the two main political parties in the country constitutes a dangerous monopoly for democracy, especially political pluralism as one of its main pillars, as well as the rule of law,” Erida Skëndaj, executive director of the Albanian Helsinki Committee, told BIRN.
Skëndaj emphasized that the process must guarantee the active participation of every individual or political party that may be affected by the expected changes.
Consequently, adds Skëndaj, "small political parties and other interest groups have the right to be heard in any decision-making process, especially in changes of such a constitutional level, in the fundamental act, by which they may be violated or affected."
Afrim Krasniqi from the Institute of Political Studies sees a reform to reduce the number of MPs as necessary and overdue, but on the other hand he speaks of the risk that exists for 'bargaining' every time the two major parties agree to change the Constitution.
"Albania no longer has the luxury of having 140 MPs, many of whom from several legislatures are not active and do not exercise parliamentary duties," said Krasniqi, arguing that this reduction should be accompanied by a reduction in fictitious political parties, the administrative structure and the state structure in institutions, which are, according to him, more bureaucratic than functional.
But on the other hand, he admits that, "when the parties agree to change the Constitution, there is a risk and fear that the parties may seek concessions from each other to make further interventions in the Constitution."
Krasniqi does not see the reduction in the number of MPs as limiting the space for new and small political parties, linking their political survival to enabling equal conditions and a solid and comprehensive legal basis.
However, if the SP-PD pact were to go further than reducing the number of MPs, for Krasniqi, "this would test whether the SP-PD have a strategy against new parties."
On the other hand, he calls Berisha's idea for a Senate ineffective, as the conditions required for the creation of such a chamber in parliament, which is linked to a political elite capable of accepting the separation of powers, are not met.
Previous political experiences of at least the last two decades have shown that the two major parties, despite creating a conflictual and polarizing climate in the political arena, always find common ground when their interests align to maintain their dominance.
For Skëndaj, "this harmful practice has also been followed in the past for changes that affect the preservation of the political status quo, such as the constitutional ones of the electoral system."
Krasniqi also emphasizes that the history of parliamentarism shows that parties have interfered with the Constitution for electoral reasons, and he singles out as the most obvious that of 2008, changes that brought a proportional system aimed at limiting small parties.
"But their idea to reduce the number of political parties against them actually resulted in the artificial creation of such parties and by including them in their lists, today the number of parliamentary parties is higher than what Albanians voted for," Krasniqi stressed. /BIRN/
