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Albanian lawmakers to vote for country's new president

Xinhua, April 14, 2017 Adjust font size:

Albania's parliament is set to hold the first round of voting for the country's new president on April 19, local media reported Friday.

The parliament said it was about to start preparations for the first round of voting for the country's new president, after a request from the ruling Socialist Party (SP) parliamentary group.

Under Albanian Constitution, the voting can go over five rounds in total secrecy and without debates.

Experts explained Friday that during the first three rounds, a three fifth majority is needed to approve a candidate, while at the last two rounds a simple majority is required to elect a new President.

But if after five rounds of voting no candidate gets the required votes, the parliament will be dissolved and the country will go to early elections in 45 days.

This means that if the ruling SP-SMI coalition decides to elect the new president without the consent of the opposition, Albania's current political crisis might further escalate.

And this seems to be the potential scenario since the Albanian opposition are still boycotting parliament.

The opposition parties here, led by the Democratic Party, also refused to register for the upcoming general elections scheduled for June 18 after their request for the formation of a caretaker government here was turned down by the current government.

On the other hand, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has declared that the country's new president will be proposed by the SP-SMI coalition, stressing that it was up to them to decide. Endit