Politics Albanian Style

Well we were getting in a tiz after May 9th. because the coalition negotiations took at least 5 days to produce a government. Here in Tirana the ramifications of last summer's election are still going on, and several ballot boxes remain unopened and are the subject of ongoing dispute. Tirana is a rapidly developing city now, thanks in large part to the efforts of its socialist mayor, Edi Rama. The thing is, though, that Rama is also the opposition leader, and believes he, rather than conservative (or Democrat) Sali Berisha should actually be prime minister now. Traffic in the always somewhat anarchic capital virtually ground to a halt last week while Rama and his allies took their campaign to the streets, going on hunger strike and camping out near one of Tirana's major squares. Sadly, that's all disappeared now as the protagonists head to Brussels to see if they can negotiate a way out of the impasse, while Rama's diggers continue to develop Tirana's city centre. Meanwhile, most Albanians carry on imperviously, their daily routines unaffected by the political wrangling that is presumably designed to bring them all better lives! Perhaps we could learn a little from their phlegm, if not their politics!