SETimes.comPolitical theatre, Albanian-style
21/11/2008
Was staging a hunger strike an appropriate response to new elections reform legislation?
By Balkanblogs for Southeast European Times -- 21/11/08
Albania's parliament adopted a controversial new election code earlier this week, with 112 out of 140 lawmakers supporting the bill. Although favoured by the ruling Democrats as well as the main opposition Socialists, the legislation has encountered months of delay by dismayed smaller parties, who say it shuts them out.
To drive home their complaint, lawmakers from the small parties began a hunger strike earlier this month. After the vote Tuesday (November 18th), they called it off. Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) leader Ilir Meta, who went without food for more than eight days, gave a rousing speech to his supporters.
"It is good news at least nobody suffered from the strike," writes Toni at peshkupauje. "This was a victory for the Socialist Party's Edi Rama, who showed his leadership and attitude amid different pressures in a very complicated situation. It showed also how pathetic was the declaration of the hunger strikers, who told us that they were going to die for this election code. I hope this case is going to stop once and for all such forms of pressure, including the numerous hunger strikes."
Pjer Thomas sees it differently. "I am very sorry that the other parties did not join the protests in order to create a national coalition that will rescue Albania from poverty and corruption," he writes.
"I am not an LSI supporter, and I am not voting for it the next year, but I don't agree with the new election code not allowing it to have representation in the monitoring election commission," comments Blendi at peshkupauje. "The reduction in the number of commissioners reduces the representation of the small parties and at the same time increases the representation of the big parties."
For T-Red, the deputies' objections are understandable, but their method of expressing them is strange. He asks if Western politicians such as Romano Prodi, David Cameron, John McCain or Barack Obama would stage such an action.
"The LSI has the right to fight the new election code by seeking to include one commissioner in the election-monitoring commissions. The LSI has the right to ask not to lose votes -- the votes of the people who don't want to vote for the leading parties such as the Democratic Party and Socialist Party. But why did it decide to go for the last option, the hunger strike? Because in Albania, 'communication' is a foreign word."
Bledialb thinks Meta was just being an opportunist and seeking a way to ensure his party remains in the spotlight. "It is difficult to keep a political movement alive, especially on the left," he concludes.