As warned before by the head of government Edi Rama, the Albanian parliament has overturned the decree of President Ilir Meta to review the Electoral Code adopted by the majority without the consent of the extra-parliamentary opposition. So far the majority has secured 97 votes to oust the president, while the counting process is still ongoing.
With the overturned decree, the formula of coalitions where the parties must group the candidates in a single list already remains in force. This point was strongly opposed by the extra-parliamentary opposition. The Electoral Code enters into force automatically without the changes required by President Ilir Meta and the extra-parliamentary opposition.
The head of state overturned the decree on the Electoral Code to the Assembly, while asking for the opinion of the Venice Commission regarding the recommendations that should be made in its drafting. The head of the government, Edi Rama, came out against this intervention, stating that there is no time to wait for Venice as the election law needs to be written in black and white in order to lead to the elections on 25th April.
Regarding the recommendations of Venice which are expected to come in December, Rama stressed that they will be implemented after the elections on 25th April./abcnews.al
