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Albania fails in third attempt to elect new president

Xinhua, April 27, 2017 Adjust font size:

The parliament of Albania failed for a third time in electing a new president during Thursday's plenary session as no candidate was nominated for the post.

According to the Socialist Party-led governing coalition, the party did not put forth candidates in order to give the opportunity to the centre-right opposition to take part in this process and elect a president with broad political consensus.

The opposition here has been boycotting parliament since 68 days, refusing to become part of this process as well as the June 18 elections.

Given the first three rounds were wasted without any result, the chairman of the Socialist Party parliamentary group Gramoz Ruci said the parliament should no longer wait to elect a new president.

Speaker of the parliament Ilir Meta should immediately call a meeting of the conference of the chairs of parliamentary groups in order to decide the next two rounds for the election of the president, Ruci stated at plenary session.

Otherwise the country should hold early elections within the next 45 days as the constitution stipulates, he added.

Meta also noted SP already had the required 71 votes to elect the next president even without the junior partner in governing coalition, the Socialist Movement for Integration.

In case parliament fails to elect a president in three rounds of voting, another two rounds are held where the candidate is elected on a simple majority. If they too prove unsuccessful, parliament is dissolved and general elections are called.

The president has a five-year mandate. The term of current President Bujar Nishani ends in July. Endit