Although very late and likely imposed in the context of EU membership negotiations, work has begun in the Albanian political environment to restore Referendums. But it seems that this law will not find consensus among all parties, given that it is involved in the usual clash between the two main parties.
The Chairman of the Socialist Party Parliamentary Group, Taulant Balla, announced at a media conference that the Socialist Party has a draft law on referendums ready, which will be submitted for consultation before being submitted to the Assembly.
Balla stressed that to reduce costs, the referendum could be held in parallel with political or local elections, but this will be discussed further as there are different positions. He added that the Albanian Constitution does not prohibit a referendum from being held on election day.
"The SP parliamentary group will hold several large consultative roundtables so that the draft, even after it enters the procedure in the Assembly, is the result of a broad and comprehensive process," said Balla.
On the other hand, Sali Berisha declared that the DP will vote against the SP draft. He said that Rama does not accept a joint product and emphasized that the DP is currently focused on territorial and electoral reforms.
"Not that we believe that Edi Rama will accept a joint product, but we have an entire opinion that wants to present our version. But to vote on SP laws unilaterally, this is not happening," declared Berisha.
We recall that Albania is one of the few countries that does not have a specific mechanism that allows the exercise of direct democracy. This is due to the lack of will on the part of political parties to leave in the hands of citizens the instrument that would serve to control or balance power.
