Tirana, Albania (Tirana Echo) – Albania’s ruling center-left coalition is facing the hardest test of its existence in 3 years as various Ministers and MPs clash with Prime Minister Edi Rama over alleged manoeuvres of the police force under the orders of Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri.
The internal rift has become more visible in the last few days as senior representatives of the junior partner Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) have accused exponents of their larger ruling partner Socialist Party (PS), more specifically Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri of going after LSI’s people across Albania, in an alleged attempt to blackmail them ahead of upcoming June general elections.
The rift has culminated in allegations across media outlets last night that PM Rama plans to fire SMI Justice Minister Ylli Manjani, a long time harsh critic of Rama, and senior representative of the Socialist Movement for Integration. Such claims were later dismissed by Manjani through a Facebook status who denied any intentions to resign from his position.
In a last minute attempt to calm the situation, Prime Minister and SP Chair Edi Rama met with his coalition partner Ilir Meta, Speaker of Parliament and Chair of the SMI at the Albanian Parliament HQ. No details have yet been released on what Rama and Meta discussed.
Tensions rose last week, as Minister of Environment and SMI MP Lefter Koka, voiced concerns over the growing crack within the coalition, pointing out that in the district of Durrës, where Koka served as Mayor between 2003-2007, the new Socialist Mayor Vangjush Dako as well as police representatives are preparing SP militants for a clash with the SMI, ahead of upcoming general election in June.
In an interview for ORA News, Environment Minister Lefter Koka said that while tensions in a governing coalition may be natural due to unfulfilled promises, “I have noticed that in the district of Durrës, Socialist representatives are telling their members that the enemy is not the opposition Democratic Party, but the Socialist Movement for Integration”.
“I call on the state police to not move towards an unknown direction, as their job is to preserve law and order in the country. We have become the laughter of Europe with the enormous amount of cannabis planted across the country. The duty of the police is to prevent such phenomenon,” – said Koka.
A day later, SMI MP for Gjirokastra Vangjel Tavo, a former Health Minister and senior exponent of the Greek Minority in the south accused the police of not doing its job in the district of Gjirokastra.
“I have asked Interior Minister Tahiri to dismiss several political chiefs of police, who should be doing their job, not engage in politics,” – said Tavo.
Such allegations were further echoed by SMI Vice Chair and MP Luan Rama who told ABC News that “the police has not done its job well in preventing cannabis plantation. Albania is covered with cannabis and this cannot be done without the support of the police. The police have the responsibility to prevent, not collect the cannabis plantations”.
As fears spread of a possible fallout in the SP-SMI coalition, Prime Minister Edi Rama and Interior Minister Tahiri responded through Facebook that “for the third year in a row, the State Police is the most trustworthy institution in the country, according to an EU study”, labelling critics as the “Front of Evil”.
This prompted SMI Chair Ilir Meta to calm things down. In a meeting with party structures yesterday, Meta said that conflicting political rhetoric and blame games are not needed.
“Institutional solutions through full responsibility will take our engagement for strengthening the rule of law to renewed, higher and more sustainable levels. This is the vision and the responsibility of the Socialist Movement for Integration,” – said Meta.
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