A gentle introduction to Albanian politics

Friday morning dawned, and we had an appointment in the diary. But it was time to explore, and thus time for a walk.

Tirana is designed on a north-south axis, which runs from the Technical University at the southern end, leads you up Bulevardi Deshmoret E Kombit across the River Lana (described as an open drain by one commentator) to Sheshi Skenderbej, one of those vast setpiece and rather stark squares that appears to have been so attractive to communist planners.

I guess that it works if you want to hold military parades but, as a public space, it needs filling with something. Many of the surrounding buildings are of the "marble box" variety, although the National Museum may be about to emerge from its current disguise as something rather more pleasing to the eye.

The former Mayor of Tirana, and now Albania's Prime Minister, Edi Rama, took the view that the cheapest way to brighten up the city was literally to paint things in bright colours. And, all credit to him, it clearly worked, although sunshine does help. Tirana is an unexpectedly cheerful place, with trees and a sense of civic pride. And, having been to Moldova, where you probably couldn't say the same of Chisinau, it does make a difference.

There is a vast central mosque, but it isn't historic, having been built recently, although, in the corner of Sheshi Skanderbej, there is the Et'hem Bey Mosque, rather dwarfed by its surroundings, with a clock tower next to it. It does feel a little out of place, but it's fairly miraculous that it survived at all, given that the Hoxha regime persecuted religious practice and declared Albania an atheist state in 1967.

We had somewhere to be though, and with ID in hand, we arrived at a barrier where a security guard stopped us. We don't speak Albanian, funnily enough, and the security guard didn't speak any English it seemed, but the idea that we were here on "business" seemed to get across and, returning to his little hut, he emerged with a piece of official looking paper with our names on it.

The Albanian Parliament isn't the most imposing building. You enter a small lobby with the usual security screening equipment and there's a door in front of you which, as it turned out, leads directly into the Parliamentary chamber. This looks curiously like a small theatre which, as it turned out, was exactly what the building was prior to conversion, a puppet theatre to be precise (cue jokes about politicians...).

Our hosts were most welcoming, and we were escorted into the chamber and encouraged to sit in the front row - the nearest I'm ever likely to get to being a Select Committee Chair - whilst a young lady from the Parliament's Civic Engagement Team explained how things work in the Albanian Parliament in fluent English. There was some detail on the internal politics and some of the issues that arise, and we offered some thoughts in response. 

There is an interesting similarity between the Scottish Parliament and its Albanian counterpart in that both have an electoral system designed to avoid one-party majorities - Albania uses multi-member constituencies based on the twelve counties, with the D'Hondt system used to decide who wins.

In Albania, however, the political fragmentation which usually follows from the introduction of such a system hasn't happened yet, with two dominant players still in place. The Socialist Party has a majority of seats, albeit it a small one, but remains disciplined, unlike the opposition Democratic Party.

All in all, it was a very interesting opportunity to learn more about the politics of a country which seldom gets much positive coverage, and we emerged from it somewhat the wiser.

As we left, I spotted a side gate which we could exit through. It turned out, as security guards hurried towards us that, although it was open and seemingly led to a public street, we were really encouraged to use the main entrance. They let us out that way anyway, smiling as they waved us on. it all felt very Albanian, formal but friendly...