The former Minister of Defence Mimi Kodheli will have to put up a strong fight in order to win a seat when the new parliament is formed. Kodheli has been an MP since 2009 when the electoral system switched from majoritarian to regional proportional.
Kodheli is number 21 on the Socialist Party’s candidates list for the district of Tirana which in total has 36 mandates. The chances that the SP wins 21 terms in the capital are grim, but hopes will rest on whether she will be able to secure over 10.000 preferential votes in order to win back her seat in the Albanian parliament.
During her interview on Euronews Albania with anchor Loneta Progni, the Socialist MP said that her position in the candidate’s list comes as no surprise, describing it as “fair logic” that “the heavyweights” of the party were placed below “safe posts”.
“I spoke with the leader of the party and we discussed the logistics and the ranking of the list. It came as no surprise to me”, said Kodheli.
According to her, the ranking may change at the end of the electoral process and reiterated her conviction that will receive the necessary votes to be re-elected in the Assembly.
“We can surpass the threshold, by having the experience, the support of the SP and of the people. I don’t think it will be hard for us to pass the threshold, move out of that ranking and climb to a higher position”, added the former minister.
Tirana’s former prefect also said that there is not much time left to explain to the electorate the new voting method and expressed her concern that many ballots will be invalid.
She stated that if the voter “chooses the individual only, but does not tick the party” their ballot will be considered invalid.
“The important thing is to get over 10.000 votes which is a ticket to the Parliament and surpass another candidate that was not able to get that many votes. My concern is that it’s too late to clarify to the public how they will be voting. The fact that the ballot paper is not out yet makes this even more difficult. I think that one-month time is not enough to explain to the electorate how to vote”, Kodheli.
In terms of the candidates absent from the list of the Socialist Party, Kodheli said that “many still deserved to remain in Parliament”.
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