Albania's election commission seeks protection from parliament before local elections

TIRANA, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Chairman of Albania's Central Election Commission (CEC) Klement Zguri asked the Parliament on Monday to protect the CEC from being influenced by the current political crisis in Albania.

Speaking on the annual report of the commission in front of the Parliament Committee of Laws and Human Rights, Zguri said that it is the Parliament's obligation to protect CEC from the political crisis.

Zguri stated that the work of the Commission of Electoral Administration Zones (CEAZ) is affected by the fact that the political parties delay to submit the lists of the candidates or change these lists.

"The Parliament should support the CEC in order to have standard local elections," Zguri said.

Albania is set to hold local elections on June 30.

For a month now, Albania has been going through a political crisis with the opposition parties holding several anti-government protests involving violence, asking the Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama and his cabinet to step down for early elections.

Lawmakers of Albanian opposition have resigned from their posts and refused the calls of the European Union (EU) and international organizations to hold talks with the government and end the political crisis.

The Socialist Party holds 74 seats in the 140-seat Parliament.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Presence in Albania has called on the political parties to submit nominations for CEAZ, emphasizing that the "election is the only way to power, and political parties are responsible for the credibility of the elections in the eyes of Albanian voters," said the OSCE statement.