Our Man in Tirana

The latest article from IPS looks at the weakness of civil society in Albania. On RFE/RL Ismael Kadare discusses Kosovo . TOL joins the ranks of those discussing Albania's power crisis . BIRN reports on EU frustrations with the Albanian government's handling of police reform . BIRN is also anticipating fireworks in parliament as MP's returned to work this week. Apparently we had an earthquake yesterday but since it was at 7.08am I knew nothing about it. It would take more than 4.7 on the Richter scale to wake me up at that time. Saimir Strati, having already produced a mosaic portrait of Leonardo made from nails, has now produced a mosaic of a horse made from half a million toothpicks.

Two stories from BIRN: Andi Beli, the previous director of KESH who was sacked in March of this year (I think) is under attack by the Office of State Control, a financial watchdog. According to BIRN the OSC is calling on the State Prosecutor to start proceedings against Beli. BIRN also reports that Lulzim Basha, the Foreign Minister, has invited Crown Prince Leka II to become an advisor on foreign affairs. I have to confess that I did not know that there was a Crown Prince. A brief search uncovered an entry on wikipedia , and a video from Vision Plus. The Jewish Advocate carries a story about Bujar Veselaj, whose father, Refik, rescued Albanian Jews during the war and later founded the Albania-Israel Friendship Association. The son has been granted asylum in the US after expert testimony backed his claim that Muslim fundamentalists had threatened his life. I'm not sure what to make of this story. On the one hand I think many Albanians - and outside observers - are complacent abo...

The Washington Post has a lengthy article on the phenomenon of sworn virgins . Elvira Dones , an Albanian born author and journalist has recently made a film on this theme. Also looking at women in Albanian society, Nicole Itano reports for Women's eNews on the experience of Roma women . MSNBC carries an FT report on the problems facing small businesses in Albania trying to cope with hours-long power cuts every day. The report quotes the Prime Minister's claims that Albania has reached a 'turning point' and that within four years the country will be exporting electricity. The Economist has a piece on President Topi . The author believes that the President will support measures to limit the term of office for the Chief Prosecutor, thus dealing with the Sollaku issue. In contrast to the Prime Minister's optimism, the Economist reports that 'plans for private investors to build new power plants are way behind schedule.' Forbes carries an AP story on US attemp...

Game, set and match to Berisha then. In the fourth round of voting the Democratic Party candidate - and vice-chairman of the party - was elected to the post of President with 85 votes. Neritan Ceka, the only other candidate received only 5. The key difference this time was the presence of 7 opposition MP's who took part in the voting and backed Topi. Ben Blushi, chairman of the Socialist Party in parliament, subsequently resigned from his post and Edi Rama denounced the 7 as 'treacherous.' Some commentators suggested that this was Nano's revenge. Unable to take the post of President himself, he undermined Rama's leadership in the most effective way he could, by getting his remaining supporters to back Topi. Was there a deal? In time it may become clearer. Certainly, Berisha was very confident after the third vote that there would be a result in this round and that Topi would win. Of course, that might have been no more than political bluff. Topi himself is working h...

I've been trying to find out more about the competition for the new Albanian Parliamentary comlex. The website at Europaconcorsi provides links to the websites of the competitors. Not all of these provide information on their entries for this competition, but it's possible to get an idea of their approach and to see some other projects they have been involved in. I have found photographs from three of the other entrants and reproduced one from each below. You can find more at the following links: Ishimoto and Francesco Scardaccione von Gerkan, Marg und Partner, RA Consulting srl and Vladimir Bregu Samyn and Partners . This is one of those annoying flash based websites. To find the relevant photographs go to Studies and Competitions then Public Services and select the photograph on the right. Samyn and Partners Ishimoto and Francesco Scardaccione von Gerkan, Marg und Partner and Vladimir Begu

New developments! On Saturday Parliament held a third ballot for the post of President and we had a new candidate. Neritan Ceka is leader of the Democratic Alliance, a small party which is part of the opposition coalition. A good portion of Topi's support switched to Ceka: Topi had 50 votes, Ceka 32. Nano, having peaked at 5 votes, dropped back to 3 and has now been eliminated since only the two top candidates go forward to the final two rounds. While the SP boycotted the ballot once more, for the first time the total number of votes cast passed the crucial figure of 84 - the number of votes required to elect a President. Clearly Berisha is struggling to hold his coalition together. His Democratic Party, which has 56 seats, obviously backed Topi, but his coalition partners backed Ceka. I watched Nard Ndoka, leader of the Christian Democrats and Minister for Health, publicly endorse Ceka. Newspapers have reported that Fatmir Mediu, leader of the Republican Party and Minister for De...

On Tuesday, Parliament tried again to elect a President and, again, failed . The same two candidates were standing - Topi and Nano - and the result was broadly similar: Topi 74, Nano 5. There seems to be some confusion over how many of the five rounds of voting have now been completed. If the two postponed rounds are counted then there is only one vote left. If only actual votes are counted then there are three more opportunities to find a President. If anyone knows which is correct please enlighten me. Either way, though, it seems immaterial. Clearly there was no progress on finding a consensus candidate between the first and second votes, and there seems to be no great urgency to produce one. It seems instead that both parties are now resigned to - or perhaps enthusiastically looking forward to - a general election. How a general election will help, I don't know. There are no new people, no new parties and no new ideas out there. A general election will merely reshuffle the exist...

Parliament finally held a first ballot for a new President , though since earlier votes had been postponed this was actually the third round of voting. Unfortunately, in the absence of an agreed candidate the choice was between the DP nomination Bamir Topi and Fatos Nano. Topi got 75 votes, Nano got 3. The opposition refused to take part in the vote. There are two more rounds of voting possible between now and 24 July when the term of office of the current President Alfred Moisiu ends. After that, there will have to be a general election - a pointless distraction, bound to be bitter and divisive, and a nail in the coffin of Albania's EU and NATO aspirations. Yet it seems that the opposition can't wait. "The Socialist Party has switched on the engines for early elections," said Rama, according to the IHT.

The IPS news agency have published more articles on Albania. A couple of articles look at the relationship between tourism and the environment . Another looks at the similarities between Albania and other countries in the region. Then there is an interview with Jozefina Topalli , Speaker of the Parliament and lastly a piece on Tirana . Elsewhere, the IHT reports that attempts to elect a President are still going nowhere. Also going nowhere is the power supply situation with long blackouts anticipated in September . In the Southeast European Times Robert Austin suggests that the longer term outlook may be brighter following the appointment of a new director of KESH, Xherxh Bojaxhi. I can confirm Austin's claim that Bojaxhi takes to the field with his staff since he turned up to read my electricity meter last week. (It's not that I'm special. It's just that the day before I had refused to allow his staff to do so on the perfectly reasonable grounds that none of them h...

An article by Erion Veliaj of Mjaft giving his - very critical - perspective on Albania under Prime Minister Berisha for an American audience. A couple of reports from the US and the UK concerning visa and immigration issues affecting Albanians.

In the soap opera of Albanian politics today's episode should be about the election of a new President. The first of up to five votes is scheduled for today, though there is no guarantee that it will go ahead. The two leading candidates are Bamir Topi who is the nominee of the ruling Democratic Party, and Fatos Nano who has the support of some members of the Socialist Party, which he once led, but not of current leader, Edi Rama. To win, one candidate must get the support of three-fifths of the members of parliament. The problem is that no one party or coalition can reach that target without outside support. If no candidate can get that support after the process is completed then, under the constitution, there has to be a general election. Previously the Socialists had considered boycotting the election in order to force early elections. This, in turn, gave rise to speculation that Berisha and Nano - old political enemies - had done a deal whereby the Democrats would back Nano. The...

Former US President Bill Clinton Might Visit Albania . I wouldn't be surprised if he brought his friend Tony Blair with him. I suspect Clinton would easily upstage Bush if he came.

Albania gets a mention (pp. 55-56) in Dick Marty's second report on Secret detentions and illegal transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states .

Another article from the Economist .