TIRANA, Jan. 1 – As 2022 starts in Albania, several key elements that will affect public and political life are already known.
From the much wished end of the pandemic to political events and economic uncertainties, 2022 will likely be a busy news year. Here are several elements to look for:
Will the pandemic end?
As Albanians ring in the new year, it is clear the pandemic is still here, and doctors are worried the numbers could go higher this winter before they get better later in the year.
With the confirmed arrival of the Omicron variant, doctors predict that it will be a tough three months ahead, with the situation in mid-spring telling us whether we can be optimistic.
International healthcare experts have shown some optimism that COVID-19 might end as a pandemic in 2022, remaining endemic throughout the world.
As the pandemic wears on, Albanians appear to have become jaded with protective measures as they try to keep their livelihoods going. In turn, the infection numbers have continued to be steady for weeks, with several lives lost on a daily basis.
However, things are better than a year ago, experts say, recoveries, vaccines and new treatment methods are saving lives.
And there are plenty of vaccines for those who want them in 2022, including third booster shots. More than 300,000 Pfizer doses arrived at year’s end.
Fate of opposition leadership
Two groups within Albania’s main opposition Democratic Party are vying for control, and 2022 will either mark a new leadership or a potential split in the opposition.
Delegates representing a large portion of the Democratic Party convened in an assembly Dec. 11, voting to sack the party’s incumbent leadership and approving changes to the party’s constitution. The delegates represented supporters of the former Prime Minister Sali Berisha and others who say they want change in Albania’s main opposition party, following a string of electoral and political defeats.
Incumbent Chairman Lulzim Basha and his supporters say the Dec. 11 assembly was illegal and that his mandate has three more years to go. They held a rival assembly on Dec. 18. They purged all critics from key posts.
With competing claims to official party assemblies and leaderships, ultimately it might be up to courts to decide who will officially represent the party, experts say. If Berisha’s movement is shut down by the courts, a new party could be created, although Berisha categorically denies that option.
Experts and polls show the party’s membership and voters are split in three groups. Supporters of Berisha and anti-Basha members make up the first and largest group. Another group supports Basha, and yet another third wants a fresh start with a new leader.
Albania’s Democratic Party has seen months of internal turmoil following the loss of the April 25 general elections for an unprecedented third time. Moreover, the U.S. State Department in May publicly designated Berisha as an official banned from entering the United States due to involvement in “high-level corruption.” Under pressure from U.S. officials, Basha announced in September that Berisha would be expelled from the DP parliamentary group.
The decision led to Berisha launching a comeback movement within the ranks of the Democrats against Basha. With tensions running high, there are rumors that Berisha’s supporters would storm the party headquarters, early in the year, but he says all processes will be peaceful.
Selection of new president
Whether or not Albania’s Constitutional Court decides to approve the parliament’s impeachment of President Ilir Meta, one thing is certain, a new president will be sworn in 2022, as President Meta’s mandate comes to a natural end in the summer and he has made it clear he won’t try to get a second term – and the ruling party has made it clear they want him gone.
The spirit of the Albanian Constitution requires that the president has the approval of the opposition, but previous selections have shown ruling parties have been able to secure enough votes to vote in party loyalists, so a nomination is up in the air.
The Socialist Party has indicated it might want to pick a woman for the role, which would be the first time Albania gets a woman head of state.
There are no official candidates so far.
Partial local elections
With the administrative elections of June 2019, which were boycotted by the opposition, declared valid by a recent ruling of Albania’s Constitutional Court, the way is open for partial elections in five municipalities left without elected leaders due to varied factors, including resignations, decriminalization law filters and the death of a sitting mayor.
President Ilir Meta had refused to set a date for early elections in the five municipalities — including in the large cities of Durres and Shkodra — until the Constitutional Court ruled on the validity of the elections in general.
Albania’s opposition said it would wait for the publication of the reasoning of the court’s decision before expressing an opinion.
Neither President Meta nor DP seem in a hurry to get the elections going, but they must legally take place by fall.
They open an avenue for the opposition to manage at least some of the country’s municipalities after being completely shut down during the boycott in the hopes that the elections would be declared invalid.
The June 30, 2019 elections created an unprecedented situation due to an opposition boycott and President Meta canceling the elections and setting another date.
Electoral authorities and the Albanian government, backed by the international community, held the elections on the set date, resulting in the ruling Socialist Party winning all but one of the country’s 61 municipal mayoral seats.
The elections also saw the lowest voter turnout ever in Albania, ranging between 9 percent in Shkodra and 15 percent in Tirana.
