The history of a parliamentary reality in Albania is not old. But even though in a few decades, the changes and transformation that the Albanian Parliament has undergone have been surprising many times and painful many other times. From a parliament filled with academics in the beginnings of democracy, we find ourselves today with a Parliament of silent deputies.
Tch has delved into a detailed research regarding the higher education of 140 Albanian deputies for the 2021-2025 legislature, of which 74 are re-elected and 66 of them mandated for the first time, where male mandates predominate with 90 from them.
Despite the fact that a university is not legally required to enter the Parliament, the numbers show a well-educated Assembly in papers where economists and lawyers dominate. The first place is held by the Department of Economics for the largest number of graduates there, with 49 deputies, but 11 of them are from the agricultural profile. As well as in this list, there are MPs who have only completed their master’s degree in economics or have a second degree. Most of the economist deputies are socialists, 29 of them, and are mainly profiled for business or public administration, there are fewer finance deputies. And it is noticed that there are also those with marketing training. While 40 MPs have completed higher education in law, where 21 of them are opposition lawyers.
The ranking is followed by the 15 engineer MPs, 8 from the majority and 7 from the opposition, who are mainly mechanical or electronic. The parliament also consists of 13 doctors who left their white aprons to represent the people. Other fields of MP graduation are also related to teaching, political science, international relations, foreign languages or military training. The arts are represented in the Parliament only by the chief socialist Edi Rama who graduated in painting and by the democrat Eralda Bano from the Flute branch at the Academy of Fine Arts.
By comparing the data of the official biographies of the MPs, cases of inconsistencies between the years of study and work experience, or attending higher education in district universities while they were employed away from the place of study, also come to the fore. There are also MPs who have easily obtained their diplomas without any effort through the correspondence system, as well as dozens of diplomas obtained in private universities. Let’s dwell on concrete examples that raise questions. Democrat Asllan Dogjani graduated in Law 9 years after his education at the police academy, when he was part of the state police. The academic path of the DP deputy Bujar Leskaj is apparently diverse, he has completed three faculties. In 1990, he graduated in mining geology, then in finance at the Faculty of Economics, and he received his third degree in law in 2002. But what catches your eye is the fact that Leskaj was a law student at the time he was awarded teaching economics students.
While Isuf Çelaj completed the Faculty of Law part time in the years 1996-2003, when he was the head of passports in the Ministry of the Interior; without being satisfied with the first degree as a veterinary doctor in agriculture. After the Faculty of History and Geography, at the age of 48, deputy Luan Baçi graduated in law at the Crystal University, an institution which was later closed due to the scandals of awarding diplomas. Nusret Avdulla of PDIU also received a diploma in business administration from Kristali and then completed a master’s degree in administrative sciences in Vlora during the years 2016-2018 when she worked as the director of employment in Fier. PDIU MP Gëzim Ademaj has continued law as a second faculty at the University of Vlora after graduating as a mining engineer. But not all MPs’ CVs have accurate information and no spelling mistakes. Socialist Antoneta Dhima has her basic education in finance at the Skënderbej military school, while at the age of 43, when she was employed as a teacher in non-public schools, she attended a master’s degree at the University of Durrës.
SP MP Ilir Metaj reveals in his biography that he completed higher education for business administration in Vlora during the years 95-2000, but it is noticeable that during the years of study he emigrated to Italy in 97-98, implying that he did not attend complete education. Socialist Bujar Çela graduated in zootechnics in agriculture at 84, but when he was 49 years old, he changed his field, graduating in Elbasan in the field of philosophy and sociology, to continue in 2013 in the same university with a master’s degree in psychology.
The performance of dozens of deputies in the Assembly, despite the ease with which they become part of it, is weak, leaving no trace in the parliamentary memory. For the lack of discourse and representation in Parliament, should there be punitive measures for the MPs without a voice?
The temple of democracy should be the arena for the confrontation of ideas, but the reality speaks of the opposite, since words left more room for action, putting the problems of the citizens in the background, so much so that the state budget for 2024 was voted without no discussion like never before.
With the help of internationals, in order to increase the quality of parliamentarism, the Parliamentary Institute was created two years ago under the direction of Elvin Gjevor, who shows us the function of this institution. But it seems that even this ready analytical instrument is not used by the majority of parliamentarians. The data show that less than ¼ of the Albanian MPs show interest in these comparative information, statistics to be used later in the public debate. If the academic qualifications and specializations required for other professions of an even lower level of public sensitivity are numerous, this is not the case when it comes to the possibility of being a deputy, where the main criterion today remains party commitment.
/ “Exclusive” show
