Opinion
Expulsions won't calm the chamber
Berisha's words and the smoke flares in Parliament demand a response, but disciplinary measures must come out of an impartial, evidence-based procedure, not just a request from the majority.
By ANN Newsroom · Newsroom
October 29, 2026, 15:30 · Updated 18:43 · 2 min read
Thursday's session of Parliament was the kind that damages the institution more than any outside criticism. Democratic Party (PD) lawmakers blocked the rostrum, Sali Berisha said majority lawmakers “deserve the tear gas and the rubber bullets,” smoke flares were lit and objects thrown from the opposition benches. After two recesses, Speaker Niko Peleshi expelled four lawmakers and went straight to the vote. A few hours later, the Socialist group asked for Berisha to be barred for 10 days and six PD lawmakers for 60 days.
The opposition will struggle to defend what happened. Wishing rubber bullets on fellow lawmakers, after weeks of protests with violent clashes in the streets, is not parliamentary language. Pyrotechnics in a closed chamber endanger everyone in it, whatever their party. A party that says it defends institutions cannot set them on fire, not even literally.
But the Socialist Party (PS) request is not yet parliamentary justice either. The accusations come from the very lawmakers who filed it and are not official findings. It also mentions other, unnamed lawmakers for noise, blocking the rostrum and inflatables, lumping offenses that endanger people together with forms of political protest. Barring six lawmakers for two months, precisely when Parliament is examining the 2027 budget and fiscal package, would silence some of those whom voters elected for this very debate.
The majority bears its share, too. The Bank of Albania law, which shields the governor from arrest without Parliament's permission and was criticized even by Socialist lawmaker Damian Gjiknuri, passed without a full debate, amid chaos, with the prime minister and Belinda Balluku in the chamber to supply the votes needed. When a session turns into a contest between smoke and vote counts, what Parliament is there for gets lost: argument.
Our proposal: the Secretariat for Procedures, Voting and Ethics should decide only on the basis of video recordings, after hearing each accused lawmaker, and publish its decision with its reasoning. The penalties should be proportionate: the heaviest for pyrotechnics and thrown objects, the lightest for noise and posters. And both sides should sign a simple commitment: no smoke flares in the chamber, no major law without guaranteed time for debate.
