Taulant Balla

Albania is fighting a large wildfire near the western town of Lac, the army and firefighters trying to keep away the flames threatening houses, the interior minister said on Tuesday.

Police showed video of a man being arrested and Interior Minister Taulant Balla said he was suspected of arson.

Socialist Party MPs said on Thursday that an opposition request to investigate controversial strategic investments in the country's coastal areas should be rejected on a technicality, arguing that supporting signatures wasn't collected in a proper way.

Albania's parliament is set to vote for a new president on Saturday, but no candidates' names are known or even rumoured, less than 24 hours ahead of the vote.

The last chance for Albania's main opposition Democratic Party to propose names for the new President - who must be elected in June - expired on Sunday, when it failed to do so, in the third round of the election.

The date for a fourth session is yet to be decided. Democratic Party parliamentarians did not show up to vote in the parliament.

The Socialist Party-controlled parliamentary administration offered MPs laptops for free on Thursday as it announced that parliamentary committee debates will now be held online, following a recommendation by the Committee of Experts, a body that advises the government on measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

After winning an unprecedented third mandate to govern Albania, Edi Rama's Socialist Party has turned its attention to its only rival who currently has a senior institutional position, President Ilir Meta.

Police inspect the scene where a politician was murdered and four citizens were injured in Elbasan, Albania, March 21, 2021. Photo: LSA

Xhuvani is a former state official who had campaigned for several parties, including the Socialist Movement for Integration, LSI, and the Justice and Integration and Unity Party, while being a Socialist Party activist currently.

Illustration: David Maddison/Flickr

Bushati said prosecutors asked him where the information came from, and said he had refused to reveal his source, calling the meeting "a short meeting without much substance" while suggesting that the prosecutors should instead investigate how the personal data of the citizens ended up in the hands of a political party.

Albania's parliament voted on Thursday to set up an investigative committee to collect information on other investigations conducted by local and international bodies into alleged crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army in Albania in the war in Kosovo two decades ago.

The parliament will then present a resolution based on the findings.

Albania PM Edi Rama voting in the village of Surel near Tirana in the 2017 elections. Photo: LSA

President Ilir Meta, who has called the changes unconstitutional, asked the Venice Commission for an opinion on the matter last October.