Next Thursday, the parliament is expected to vote on the election of the new People’s Advocate. For some time, seven candidates have been waiting to undergo the voting process.

Sources for Euronews Albania indicate that there is no agreement between the Socialist Party (PS) and the Democratic Party (PD), as the election of Erinda Ballanca’s successor requires 84 votes.

Nearly two years after the official candidacies, politics will take the step to replace Erinda Ballanca as the People’s Advocate in the parliamentary session on February 13.

There is a high chance that even in this next attempt to elect the new People’s Advocate, no decision will be reached.

Sources for Euronews Albania reveal that no agreement exists between the majority and the opposition regarding Erinda Ballanca’s successor, who has been serving beyond the constitutional term.

For the past two springs, seven out of fifteen candidates who have secured the necessary signatures from MPs will be put to a vote in next Thursday’s parliamentary session.

Among the candidates in the race are figures from the justice system, such as Vitore Tusha, former head of the Constitutional Court, and Tartar Bazaj, a member of the High Council of Prosecution. The legal profession is represented by Bledar Dervishaj, a former legal advisor to President Ilir Meta. Other candidates include Besim Ndregjoni, a representative of former political prisoners, and Dardan Mustafa, son of former Minister of Foreign Affairs Besnik Mustafaj.

Since March 2022, Erinda Ballanca’s mandate has officially ended. In December of the same year, politics failed to elect her successor. Ledio Braho, the candidate proposed by the opposition, was rejected after the Socialist Party labeled him an extension of PD’s structures.

At the time, the Socialist majority warned that the People’s Advocate does not necessarily have to be a proposal from the opposition or a fulfillment of the May 17 agreement between Edi Rama and Lulzim Basha, which granted the opposition the right to select the People’s Advocate.

Sources indicate that, so far, neither the Socialist Party nor the Democratic Party has identified a preferred candidate among the seven, for whom 84 votes are required.