Secret pact by sworn enemies ends crisis over Albanian presidency

A retired general was expected to be confirmed as Albania's first "consensual president" last night after a series of extraordinary meetings between the country's two main party leaders, who are sworn enemies.

Under intense European pressure Fatos Nano, the Socialist party leader, and Sali Berisha, the Democrat leader, met for the first time in a decade of democracy last week, delivering a compromise candidate Alfred Moisiu, 74.

Their first choice Artur Kuko, 40, a career diplomat, embarrassed the leaders on Saturday when he refused the position saying he preferred to remain as Albania's ambassador to the EU in Brussels.

President Rexhep Meidani's mandate expired yesterday and failure to reach agreement would have plunged one of the region's most unstable countries into a general election that the country can ill afford, financially and politically.

It is only four years since Dr Berisha's supporters attempted to oust Mr Nano's government in a coup but a remarkable closed-doors summit between the heavyweights who have dominated post-communist Albania has rewritten the constitution.

In a secret pact sealed last week, Mr Nano and Dr Berisha ruled themselves and Mr Meidani out of contention by barring former presidents, prime ministers or party leaders from standing, senior diplomatic sources told The Independent.

Albanians are bemused. Last time they saw the two on television together, Mr Nano told Dr Berisha that he hated him and would never forgive him for the seven years he spent in jail under his regime. Now the two are being pictured shaking hands.

The German MEP and European Parliament foreign affairs committee member Doris Pack led calls for the appointment of a "consensual president" to compensate the right- wing Democrat party for alleged Socialist gerrymandering in winning elections in June 2001. Geert-Hinrich Ahrens, the ambassador for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, then played a key role in bringing the feuding factions to the negotiating table.

Observers have expressed fears that the political horse-trading has delivered a "puppet president" with many publicly questioning Mr Moisiu's competence. The head of state holds little executive power.

A leading commentator Fatos Lobonja accused Western lobbyists of short-termism in the search for consensus. "A compromise candidate can make a good umbrella but a bad roof," he warned.

Mr Nano, a former prime minister, had been widely expected to launch a bid for the presidency himself but serious rifts among the Socialists appear to have ruled out any return to power.

Albania emerged from more than 40 years of isolationist, communist rule in 1992, with Dr Berisha the first elected president. The country descended into anarchy in 1997 when a pyramid investment scheme collapsed forcing him to resign. Mr Nano, who was jailed for seven years on an embezzlement charge under Dr Berisha's hardline regime, emerged as Prime Minister in 1998 but gave way to a fellow Socialist Ilir Meta one year later after fleeing an attempted coup by Dr Berisha's supporters. Both Dr Berisha and Mr Nano were deeply involved in the totalitarian regime of Enver Hoxha, who died in 1985.