Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08TIRANA812
2008-11-13 17:10:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tirana
Cable title:  

ALBANIA'S SMALL PARTIES STAGE HUNGER STRIKE

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREL AL 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTI #0812 3181710
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 131710Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY TIRANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7587
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L TIRANA 000812 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/SCE JISMAIL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL AL
SUBJECT: ALBANIA'S SMALL PARTIES STAGE HUNGER STRIKE

Classified By: Ambassador J. Withers, reasons 1.4 (b),(d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L TIRANA 000812

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/SCE JISMAIL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL AL
SUBJECT: ALBANIA'S SMALL PARTIES STAGE HUNGER STRIKE

Classified By: Ambassador J. Withers, reasons 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (U) On November 10, Ilir Meta, head of small opposition
party LSI, gathered ten other small party leaders and
disgruntled members of the DP and SP to protest the proposed
electoral code by staging a hunger strike in the Parliament's
plenary meeting room. They are protesting provisions in the
code that would exclude their small parties from seats on the
local, regional, or central voting and counting commissions.
However, as opposition Leader Edi Rama told visiting DAS
Jones two weeks ago, the SP is happy with the new electoral
code and expects it to pass soon.


2. (C) The strike began November 10 and was met with a
ham-fisted response by the administration. Electricity and
heat were turned off, cell phones were jammed, and all
entrances to the building were blocked preventing entrance.
An ambulance was turned away and media sympathetic to the
government refused to broadcast any coverage of the strike.
After requests by the internationals, Parliament Speaker
Topalli restored electricity and heat and allowed medical
personnel to enter the building. An estimated 3000
protestors gathered outside the building, some staying in
tents during the night. A small scuffle broke out when
police tried to remove one of the tents. On November 13, the
strikers sat peacefully in the meeting room posing for the
media while a plenary session, with no real content or
agenda, was held.

Comment
--------------


3. (C) It is not clear how this standoff will end. If the
authorities decide to use force to remove the strikers, their
supporters, which could number in the thousands, could
respond in kind. If the strikers are simply ignored, as they
have been today during the Parliamentary session, they may
decide to escalate their actions. The strike seems to have
been poorly planned, with the strikers expecting the foreign
community to step in and pressure the major parties, although
the strikers themselves never entered into direct
negotiations with either the SP or DP on the issue. However,
the EU ambassadors seem to be united in letting the Albanians
sort this one out themselves. We have conveyed the message
that the way to succeed in a democracy is to negotiate with
your political peers, and, failing that, bring the issue to a
Parliamentary vote.
WITHERS