Opposition to organize fresh protests

Opposition parties in Albania announced on Wednesday that the series of anti-government demonstrations, which have started since February, will continue. The leader of the main opposition party, Lulzim Basha, declared yesterday that he is grateful to all of those people who refused to take part in the June 30 local elections, which he considered to be a charade.

“I’d like to thank over 85% of Albanians who refused Edi Rama’s dictatorship on June 30. I’d like to invite all those honest Albanians to join us on Monday at 8 pm in a national demonstration to continue our battle for democracy, constitution and freedom”, Basha said.

Meanwhile, the country has been going through a political crisis since the start of the year. The main opposition parties have organized a series of anti-government demonstrations, demanding the resignation of the government and the holding of general elections.

In February, opposition parties also boycotted parliament en masse, as a means to put more pressure on the government. However, the government did not budge, while opposition candidates who were part of the initial party lists and who could not be elected, decided to replace their colleagues, who had resigned from parliament, in spite of the fact that they were acting against their party's instructions.

In June, president of the country, Ilir Meta issued a decree to cancel the June 30 elections, however, the government disregarded this decree, saying that it is anti-constitutional. The ruling Socialist Party went ahead with the elections, winning all 61 municipalities in the country, in what many considered to be a single-party race. /E.I/