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The State Department calls on to the Albanian Opposition to not give up massively its mandates and to publicly condemn the violence exercised during the protests.
A State Department spokesman told to Voice of America that the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Palmer had two separate phone talks last night, one with the Democratic Party chairman Lulzim Basha and the chairman of the Socialist Movement for Integration Monika Kryemadhi.According to State Department spokesman, Mr. Palmer called on both opposition leaders to remain constructively engaged in democratic processes, highlighting the vital role that opposition parties should play in a democratic society.
The senior US diplomat, as voiced by Voice of America, "advised" the two party leaders "against the coordinated and massive resignations of parliamentary opposition MPs, as this would undermine the reform efforts and undermine an important institution of democracy".
Mr. Palmer, while stressing the support of the United States for the right of citizens to protest in peace, called on Mr. Basha and Mrs. Kryemadhi to reject and publicly condemn the violence.
Basha and Kryemadhi explained today to Voice of America the attitude they held in the conversation with the senior official of State Department and his calls against the mandates abandoning.
Mr. Basha said that "the decision to burn the mandates is a decision of the DP forums, a unanimous decision and the individual resignation of all mandates is a step already undertaken by the opposition."
The Democrat leader explained that he had put Mr. Palmer's request to understand that according to him, "in Albania there is an unprecedented state of seizure of the state by crime and oligarchy and that the political solution that PD offers is the way to maintain stability, which can happen only by strengthening the democracy and the rule of law, which today - said Mr. Basha - are virtually annihilated by the state caught by crime and corruption."
For her part, Mrs. Kryemadhi said that he had explained to Mr. Palmer that "Albania is already a state where everything has been destroyed and where the organized crime and drug trafficking are booming. The SMI Speaker said that he told to the US official that "the government is raised over the sale of the votes by the organized crime and that the prosecution's interceptions are the end of the parliament", which according to her, "the Socialist Party has destroyed the right of the opposition, and every voice is eliminated "
She said that asked Mr. Palmer of "what would happen in the United States if a congressman or an American senator were to be informed by the prosecution that he had bought the votes with money ...? The least would be the investigation, while in Albania the opposite happens," Mrs. Kryemadhi said, commenting on the conversation with Mr. Palmer.