Albanian parliament fails to elect a president in 1st vote
May 16, 2022, 12:36 AM | Updated: 12:46 pm
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The Albanian Parliament on Monday failed to elect the country’s next president after no candidates were nominated for the first round of voting.
Neither the governing left-wing Socialist Party, nor the opposition, or any independent candidate could be nominated. The parliament’s legal commission said that the vote was, nevertheless, considered formally as done.
The next round should be held in the next seven days.
Candidates are proposed by a group of at least 20 lawmakers in the 140-seat parliament. The parliament may hold five rounds to elect the president. In the first three rounds, the winner must secure at least three-fifths of the vote, or 84 lawmakers, which the ruling Socialists do not have. In the last two rounds, only the majority of the vote, or 71 lawmakers, is needed.
Edi Rama, the prime minister and leader of the governing Socialists, said they will patiently wait for the fourth round to elect the next president. Socialists have 74 votes.
The five-year presidency has a largely ceremonial role, generally understood to be apolitical. It carries some authority over the judiciary and the armed forces and is limited to two terms.
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