TIRANA, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Albanian President Bujar Nishani set the date on Friday for the by-mayoral elections in the city of Kavaja on May 7, the president's cabinet informed on Friday.
Following the decree, the chair of the opposition Democratic Party (DP), Edi Paloka, confirmed to Xinhua that there would be no elections in Kavaja or in Albania as long as Prime Minister Edi Rama was still in office.
The DP remains determined to boycott the election process unless Prime Minister Edi Rama is removed, he told Xinhua.
But Rama reacted by saying that despite the opposition's claims, the elections would be held as scheduled.
Early elections in the municipality will be held after the Central Elections Commission (CEC) decided about three months ago to terminate the mandate of Mayor Elvis Roshi because he had hidden his previous criminal records when submitting the form to the CEC.
Roshi's mandate was lifted by the election body because of a law which bans elected officials and members of the public administration from office if they do not have a clear criminal record.
According to the CEC, Roshi had failed to declare a conviction for rape in 1995 in Italy. He had also not declared the use of different names in Switzerland.
General elections are scheduled for June 18 in Albania.
