Albanian Parliament fails to elect president for 3rd time

Tirana, 27 April 2017 (MIA) - The Albanian Parliament on Thursday failed for the third time to elect the country's new president because no candidates have been nominated, AP reports.
The governing left-wing coalition didn't put up any candidates, saying it wants to include the center-right opposition in reaching a broader consensus. The same thing happened twice last week.
But the Socialist Party says Parliament shouldn't wait any longer to elect a new president since the opposition has refused to participate in any dialogue.
The Socialists' smaller ally, the Socialist Movement for Integration, has tried to mediate without making any progress. The party's leader, Ilir Meta is Parliament speaker.
The opposition has boycotted meetings of Parliament since February. It is demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama ahead of a June 18 parliamentary election, claiming that the sitting Cabinet will manipulate the vote.
A recent visit by European parliamentarians failed to convince the opposition to change its stance. The opposition refused Wednesday to participate in a round table of parliament's political parties.
"We either elect the new president, or let's go to early elections in 45 days as the Constitution defines," said Gramoz Ruci, leader of the Socialists' parliamentary group.
The parliament's leadership decided to hold the fourth round of voting for the new president on Friday afternoon. The fifth and the last vote may be held the same day if there is no winner.
Albania's president occupies a largely ceremonial role and is limited to two five-year terms. Candidates are proposed by a group of at least 20 lawmakers in the 140-seat Parliament.
Now that there have been three failed rounds, a candidate can be elected by a simple majority.