Albanian president approves constitutional changes

07/05/2008

TIRANA, Albania -- Despite his own reservations, President Bamir Topi approved a series of constitutional changes Tuesday (May 6th) that parliament passed two weeks ago. The changes include establishing a regional, proportional system of voting and adopting a simple majority system instead of the current three-fifths majority one. The ruling Democratic Party and the main opposition Socialist Party joined forces to push the changes through, sparking harsh criticism from some of the smaller political parties.

In other news Tuesday, the government announced it is committed to compensating businesses damaged by devastating blasts at the ammunition depot in Gerdec on March 15th. Prime Minister Sali Berisha urged owners to file necessary paperwork to determine if any carried business insurance. There are also new concerns that formal damage assessments were inflated in exchange for bribes, forcing anti-corruption investigators to re-check the work of assessment teams. (Shekulli, BBC, Panorama, Gazeta Shqiptare, Top News - 07/05/08; BalkanWeb, TopChannel - 06/05/08)