Albanian President Ilir Meta bashed the one-party elections of June 30 for the local government saying they were unlawful and canceled after his Presidential Decree dated June 10, 2019. Two days before the elections, Meta issued another Decree, setting October 13 as the new date of elections, but Premier Edi Rama and his Socialist Party were determined to go ahead with June 30, conducting the elections that were boycotted by the opposition.

 President Meta repeated his position today in an extraordinary press conference, telling the media the legitimate elections will be held on October 13.

“There were no legitimate elections on June 30 in Albania”, Meta said. “The legitimate elections are to be held on October 13. The reason I decided this has to do with the participation of all the parties and with the October 17-18”, said the President, referring to the meeting of the European Council which will decide on opening the negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia.

“Our crisis is not local but a much bigger one”.