Albania cancels by-mayoral elections on opposition's protest warnings

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who is also the ruling Socialist Party (SP) leader, announced Friday that he had asked the SP candidate running in the local by-elections in the western town of Kavaja to pull out of the race.

Albania was scheduled to hold by-mayoral elections on May 7 in Kavaja, but the opposition decided to stay out of the election process and warned of massive protests.

Rama said that his decision was made to prevent any attempt to destabilize the situation in Kavaja, and vowed not to allow such a thing to happen.

"There is a plan to destabilize this country," Rama said, referring to the protest tent pitched by the opposition in front of his office.

The opposition has been protesting at the tent for more than two months. It has also boycotted parliament, seeking the creation of a caretaker government before the June 18 general elections.

But despite the decision not to hold by-mayoral elections in Kavaja, the government remains determined to hold parliamentary elections as scheduled on June 18.

"Parliamentary elections will take place on June 18 with or without the Democratic Party (DP)," Rama confirmed.

He also talked about the two rounds of talks between himself and the head of the opposition, the DP's Lulzim Basha, which failed to produce any real agreement to solve the political crisis.

According to Rama, the Albanian opposition has been offered an institutional and direct vote-monitoring mechanism as the best way to guarantee complete transparency and parity in the electoral race.

The opposition threatened early Friday to escalate protest by launching a civil disobedience campaign starting with the mayoral elections in the town of Kavaja.

Opposition parties have also refused to register for the June 18 elections. Endit