VOA: General Bajram Begaj is elected as the new president of the country with the votes of the Socialist Party

Proposed 24 hours ago by the ruling socialist majority, Mr. Begaj was elected this evening, yes with her votes, to rise to the highest post in the state. He received 78 votes, of which 74 are estimated to be of the Socialists, 3 of the Social Democratic Party, and one vote in favor is thought to have passed by the 6 opposition MPs (3 of the SMI and 3 of the PDIU) who participated in voting. The other 1 vote was abstention and 4 against. The SMI for its part had stated before the start of the session that it would vote against. The rest of the opposition did not take part in the vote.

The deputies who support the former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who has taken over the leadership of the Democratic Party, left the hall, while another part, who knows Mr. Enkelejd Alibeaj as the chairman of the Democratic group, did not participate in the session. Those who last night filed direct accusations against Mr. Begaj, while declaring that the Prime Minister “took out today the envelope with the name of the candidate predetermined by the state property mafia”, a direct reference to a part of the army properties that have passed into the hands of private individuals .

Today’s vote was the fourth in a row, while the previous 3, where a qualified majority was required, failed as the majority and the opposition failed to find an agreement on the election of a consensual figure.

The president-elect attended the voting process in the parliament hall. He will take office on July 24th. Prime Minister Edi Rama said after today’s session that “we have given Albania a normal president, an undisputed figure in terms of integrity, humanity and, of course, commitment to the country and the people.”

The session was preceded during the day by the conclusion of a series of procedures, which started early with the meeting of the parliamentary majority group. Last night, at the head of their party, the Socialists spent at least two hours in discussions that reportedly included a host of candidacies for the country’s new president, before deciding on the name of the Chief of General Staff. While in the parliamentary group, such a thing was not considered necessary. Or rather, so decided the Prime Minister Edi Rama, despite the fact that the deputies are the ones who would later vote to climb Major General Bajram Begaj to the top of the state pyramid.

“The group will vote in full unanimity and there is no need to discuss this in terms of political decision-making for the vote of the new President of the Republic,” said the Prime Minister at the group meeting. The socialist deputies were satisfied with the explanation of Mr. Rama for the procedures followed last night in the presidency and with the reasons why according to him the proposed candidacy had been the right choice. “It fulfills the alarming need of the entire institutional building of the state for a normal person in the office of the head of state, for a figure with a high profile in the institutional aspect, because it is about the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Albania, as well as not being engaged in all the clashes or roads that intersect in the political arena “, said Mr. Rama. Subsequently, half of the 74 deputies of the majority concluded the protocol side, signing the proposal in support of the selected candidate.

The Chief of General Staff, who last night left aside his military uniform, while appearing in civilian clothes at the meeting with the Prime Minister, today formalized his resignation by signing the request for dismissal.

Former Prime Minister Berisha spoke today about a dangerous situation regarding the constitutional restrictions on the appointment of military personnel to political positions. According to him, “it would be unconstitutional, shameful and out of any legal logic to declare inactive a military person who passes from the highest seat of the Army to the highest seat of the state. “If General Begaj had political ambitions, he should have resigned from military functions long ago.”

The situation seemed to be complicated, due to the fact that President Ilir Meta, who had to sign the release of the general, has been in an official activity in Istanbul for two days. The head of state, however, dropped his signature, from there, avoiding sparking a legal debate on the issue.

The president-elect immediately received congratulations from the US Embassy in Tirana. “As Chief of General Staff, he contributed significantly to the defense cooperation between the United States and Albania. “We look forward to continuing to work with him in his new role and to further strengthen the partnership between our countries,” the US Embassy said.

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