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Balluk Scandal/ American Media 'Breitbart': US Officials Concerned by Rama's Defense
2025-12-19 19:24:04 / POLITIKË
Opposition MPs from the Democratic Party (DP) of Albania caused chaos in parliament on Thursday, lighting flares, throwing water bottles at Parliament Speaker Niko Peleshi as he tried to restore order, and clashing with police.
The violent scene was the culmination of a months-long battle over corruption allegations.
Endrit Shabani is a young former law professor who, on paper at least, would seem a solid choice for Albania’s top human rights defender. He entered the six-member race to succeed the outgoing Ombudsman, Erinda Ballanca, with the approval of the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs and strong cross-party support.
Parliament gathered in Tirana on Thursday to swear in the new ombudsman, Endrit Shabanin.
Unfortunately, Shabani found himself caught in the middle of a long-running political standoff between the PD and the ruling Socialist Party, as well as its coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party. The problem was that Shabani had run for parliament in 2025 as a representative of a small party, and was embroiled in a bitter political debate over who would hold a contested parliamentary mandate. He was the chairman of the Nisma Thurje party until he resigned to run for ombudsman.
The office of Ombudsman is usually held by a figure seen as outside party politics, so there was resentment that the position was being filled by a professional politician. However, Shabani managed to secure support from representatives of many parties.
When the moment came to vote for the ombudsman last Thursday, all the DP deputies suddenly withdrew their support for Shabani. The socialist majority unilaterally decided to proceed with the vote, and Shabani was elected with only the votes of socialists and social democrats – a situation that had never happened before.
“I am still amazed by the opposition MPs, who initially encouraged me with good will, gave me their signatures as legally required and wished me success, but then decided to abandon my candidacy as if it had never been theirs,” Shabani wrote in a post on social media last Friday.
The new People's Advocate continued by praising the Socialist Party for its "political maturity" in resolving the "stalemate" created by the DP, which he called unreasonable - which further angered the opposition.
In the background of the Ombudsman's drama was the political battle over Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, involved in a scandal related to irregularly awarded infrastructure contracts.
Balluku, a close ally of Prime Minister Edi Rama, was removed from office on November 21 by order of a “special court” created to fight corruption and organized crime. SPAK had accused her of corruption and asked parliament to lift her immunity in order to arrest her.
Prime Minister Rama appealed the special court’s decision to the Constitutional Court, which reinstated Balluku last Friday. Rama argued that her suspension was “conceptually absurd” and set a “unique and dangerous precedent.”
These two political controversies directly clashed in Thursday's parliamentary brawl, when DP deputies violently intervened during Shabani's swearing-in ceremony. The Guard intervened and clashed with the angry deputies as they rushed towards Speaker Peleshi's rostrum.
Peleshi called on the deputies to “respect the institution of parliament” and shouted: “We cannot destroy the state like this!” The response was to throw water bottles at him.
Some DP deputies occupied the seats reserved for Rama’s cabinet members and held up banners calling the prime minister the “Noriega of Europe,” a reference to Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. Other banners demanded Balluk’s resignation and her face to justice.
The opposition chose, seemingly strangely, the figure of Noriega – overthrown in 1989 and dead in 2017 – because it sees parallels between him and Rama as corrupt authoritarian leaders, supported by the United States for geopolitical reasons.
The US State Department has been careful not to publicly get involved in the political crisis brewing in Albania – a key regional ally, NATO member and EU aspirant – but according to sources, behind the scenes US officials are concerned with the way Rama has handled the corruption scandal, particularly with his use of the Constitutional Court to reinstate Balluk and shield him from prosecution. /BREITBART
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