April 28 (SeeNews) - Albania's parliament elected on Friday its speaker Ilir Meta, leader of the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI), as president of the country.
Meta was named president on the votes of 87 deputies in the 140-member chamber, after three unsuccessful attempts to elect a president, a TopNews TV footage showed.
Only 89 MPs took part in the voting as the main opposition party, Democratic Party (PD), has been boycotting parliament since February. It demands that a caretaker government is formed and early elections held, claiming that the ruling coalition government is unable to organise free and fair elections.
Albania will hold general elections on June 18.
The current government comprises representatives of the Socialist Party (PS), which has 65 seats in the 140-seat parliament, the LSI with 16 seats, and two smaller parties with one seat each. PD, which was in power from 2005 until 2013, has 50 seats.
According to Albania's constitution, a group of no less than twenty parliament members has the right to propose a candidate for head of state. The candidate needs to be backed by three-fifths of the MPs to be elected president. After three unsuccessful attempts to elect a president, two more rounds of voting can be held, as a candidate needs to secure 51% support to take the post. In the fifth round, the MPs should choose among the two candidates with the best result in the fourth vote.
The ruling coalition, led by prime minister Edi Rama, declared it will not propose a candidate in order to give the opportunity to the opposition to return to parliament and put forward a candidate they consider impartial. After two failed attempts to elect a president, however, 23 MPs nominated Meta.
The term of current president, Bujar Nishani, expires in July.