Prime Minister Edi Rama’s remarks at parliament’s session today:

 

I would like to remark about something I think is quite important for the Parliament and it is a nearing process, namely the election of the next President of the Republic.

I would like my speech with the phrase “when Sali was alive” (former PM Sali Berisha), I can recall that a process, actually two, took place here at Parliament back then. But I am referring to the first process that eventually led to the unilateral election of Bamir Topi as the country’s President and coming across your statements that did everything right when in office, but Albanian citizens failed to understand you and therefore saw you out and is no longer reconsidering to vote you in and let you return to the state offices again, I would like to hearken back to that story that depicts an event fully deserving the expression “life imitates art.”

Ultimately, the whole show was ruined by the finale as a consensual President was found, unknown to anyone, except Fatmir Mediu (Republican Party chairman), the then Defence Minister, who knew the President as a former serviceman, and they agreed to elect this former serviceman and agreed to return to the very hall where the shows was staged upon, only after we were to report and communicate with the respective party and after this communication, the candidacy of this serviceman was turned down too, because poor Sali – he is really a poor one now that he is no longer alive and you understand what I do mean – asked Dhori Sollaku’s head (former chief prosecutor) and he did so the way I am telling it now: “I want Dhori Sollaku’s head and only then we can go on with the talks.” Of course, we didn’t have any head to give up and everything ended there.

Another voting round took place and lieutenant Bujar Nishani was elected as president. And this was much easier as the Democratic Party enjoyed the majority of votes back then.

The most normal process, but that led to election of the most abnormal president is the process that took place when you boycotted the parliament, as you had embarked on that era of permanent revolution and we thought about you too. And it was actually not bad at all for you. It turned out to be your best benefit. No opposition around the world has been as lucky as you turned out to be and not governing majority in the world has ever awarded the opposition such a genuine gift we already provided you with by electing Ilir Meta as the country’s president and I believe we all agree on this. A wild president you wouldn’t be able to dream about even in your wildest dreams.

If you are to look into the history of cross-party relations over all these 30 years, one would clearly see that the Socialist Party has always been the party to mainly give ground and make concessions and it has always been the party making most of efforts to reach a compromise and has never resorted to the power to impose its will. By this I mean the facts, I mean the acts and the real interactions, and not the rhetoric we have used in this very rostrum.

And we will make such an effort again, because this is what we primarily owe to our own self. This is what we owe to the people who have elected us, but also to those who haven’t actually voted for us. This is what we owe to the country to possibly elect a president, who shouldn’t be any of us here, let alone any of you. The next president shouldn’t be any of us here and this is our obligation, despite the lamentable state you have been reduced to and things will go from bad to worse for you as my predictions have turned out to prove me right. You would basically go from bad to worse.

I am telling you – and primarily to the public watching us now – that the goal is absolutely not to elect the next president unilaterally and produce a head of state out of our parliamentary group as we would have already done if this was to be really our goal.

We really want, if possible, to give Albania a president, who would be a representative beyond the Socialist Party, a president who would demonstrate a set of simple qualities that have unfortunately become a must nowadays and such qualities have actually become extraordinary ones if we were to take into account who is still serving in the office of the President of the Republic, and who should also be a normal Albanian man or woman.

That’s all we want! If you will contribute and help us move towards this choice, I can assure you that if we agree together on a candidate representing these qualities, we will vote for him or her. We will feel no inferiority complex that the candidate was proposed by any of the parties or factions here we would communicate with. If a candidate is going to be proposed by “the dead” one, we will turn down that candidacy!

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Prime Minister Rama’s reply in Parliament:

Mr. Mediu, first of all, I would like to thank you for recalling here the fact that the country’s president in 2002 was elected on a cross-party consensus, whereas I would like to make use of this fact to illustrate what I already said. The Socialist Party and the then Socialist leader were to be primarily credited for the consensual election of the President back then, because the Socialist Party actually had the majority of votes to do otherwise, but instead they didn’t decide to do so. Regardless of what everyone said here, time and experience have taught us that everything could be said, yet the number of votes is the one to eventually decide.

We can’t choose our opponents, Mr. Mediu, and this is indisputable, but we won’t cooperate with the dead and this is non-negotiable! I would like to clearly state that there are living dead, who are our guiding stars for they are immortal.

 Now, it is true that the Constitutional changes were adopted in 2008 and I would do it again and again if I were to go back ten years earlier and I would do so precisely to avoid what can happen today; to prevent a dead man from taking hostage everyone and together with some other people, who follow him as they think he is still alive. I can tell you that we will seek to elect a President, who would be voted by the opposition MPs, by a part of them if not all of them, in the first three rounds. On the other hand, I would very much beg you to at least behave for this process, not you personally, with respect and give up throwing insults.

You are assuming the role of the U.S. embassy in Tirana as you are determining who should leave and who should stay, who has stolen and who hasn’t, as you keep citing the State Department report as if it was you the ones to release it. It is just ridiculous to see you speaking as if you enjoy diplomatic immunity from the U.S. embassy and come here to lecture us.

We know very well what we do and do not feel sorry about our relations with the United States of America, neither for the relations with Europe nor for the relations with the Albanians. These are three relationships, which, unfortunately for this country and because of you, are exclusively ours, to put it clearly.

So, to go back to the topic that matters, I believe, once again, we, Mr. Mediu, have no reason to revere you at all. I have always told you, whenever we have been talking about common things, we are ready, but you can never keep us hostage. You can never do so.

We will move forward, because we have been elected to govern, we haven’t been elected to follow you, and we haven’t been elected – God forbid it – to wait for you here.

Do you want to contribute to the election of the President of the Republic? You are welcome! We have no reason at all to do this to sound different; we want to look the way we really are. If we were convinced today for a candidacy that would convince us, we would have made it public and we wouldn’t have asked for your contribution at all. However, we haven’t found a candidate yet and this is the truth. So, do you wish to provide your contribution? I am telling you that we welcome your contribution. 

I am telling you again! Stop following “the dead” man! Do you wish to do so? Be my guests! You can’t defeat us either with or without “the dead” man! It is as simple as that.

I would also like to voice my grave and crucial concern that we are not here to represent our political parties, but our country and you are of course part of our country. I would invite you not to let the millstone around Albania’s neck. You can do whatever else, as we would of course be here. You are welcome to engage in all the needed consultations on the election of the president with us. If you are to forward a convincing candidacy, we would definitely vote for it. This is all I can say. If you fail or refuse to propose a candidate, we will then do our part and we will eventually elect a new president. This is for sure and I repeat we won’t elect the next president from the parliamentary group of the Socialist Party. We will try to elect a president, who would represent more than just one part, namely the ruling majority, and it would certainly be best if the next president is a figure beyond this majority. If you help us with this, you will do a good job for the country, although you do only bad things to this country.