Tirana, Albania | Tirana Echo - Pressure increases on Albania\'s PM to resign, hours ahead of deadline for political parties to register for upcoming general elections, amid all opposition parties refusing to register at the Central Elections Commission, signalling a deepening of the political crisis. During this evening\'s rally with opposition militants, Democratic Party chairman Lulzim Basha said that PM Rama\'s days are numbered, threatening to block he country\'s general elections scheduled to be held on June 18. \"This is the last breath of this corrupted madness. The project to capture and destroy elections is anti-European and against national interests,\" said Basha referring to Rama\'s refusal to resign and form a technical government. Earlier on, Rama\'s junior ally, Speaker of Parliament and LSI chair Ilir Meta said during a meeting with party youth in Tirana that Albania should not be kept hostage for personal interests. \"The country cannot be hostage to anyone who thinks of his seat more than social peace and stability of his country and his citizens. We have no time to waste, neither with the arrogance of one side, nor with the ultimatums of the other. We need to provide Albania with free and fair elections,\" said Meta today, adding that Albania risks becoming the shame of Europe. However, prime minister Edi Rama was defiant this evening as he slammed the DP, accusing the opposition of being scared of justice reform. \"This is a clash between the future and the past. It is a departure from the old darkness. June 18 will bring a clear message: Either with Europe, or fearful from Europe, either with justice, or petrified from justice...but no one should think that citizens will be prevented from voting on June 18. We will never allow this to happen.\" said Rama during his weekly Facebook live communication. The Prime Minister has made several calls for talks, but opposition democrats have asked for Rama\'s departure as the nonnegotiable condition for any talks to take place. Albania has been paralyzed by 50 days of opposition protests who demand Rama\'s resignation and the creation of a technical government which should assure free and fair elections. Opposition democrats blame the spread of cannabis cultivation and criminal dirty money as a major threat to upcoming elections scheduled for June 18. Rama has dismissed calls for a technical government, arguing that the opposition is fearing the current US and EU backed reform of Albania\'s corrupt justice system, which may send some public officials to jail if properly implemented. Rama\'s junior ally Ilir Meta has called for dialogue and has conditioned the continuation of his governing coalition with Rama\'s socialists on the reformatting of the government into a more trustworthy team of ministers accepted by the opposition. Meta has also called for free and fair elections and has expressed concerns on drug cultivation and trafficking which has tripled in the past two years. April counts three important electoral deadlines for Albania. Tonight is the last deadline for political parties to register of election participation, amid joint opposition boycott of the process. By April 19th pre-electoral coalitions have to be registered at the Central Elections Commission while by the end of the month all party lists of candidates running for parliament have to be officially registered. Today, Fatmir Mediu who leads Basha\'s junior opposition ally the Republican Party announced that its assembly had decided not to register as a participating party at the CEC. In addition to all general election\'s hurdles, the current Albanian parliament has to also elect a new President to serve as head of state for the next five years, while no official steps have been undertaken to kick- off the start of the parliamentary process. Former socialist rebel MP and now leader of the newly formed political party LIBRA Ben Blushi said Albania\'s risks remaining without institutions after next week. \"Starting from this week, the country may turn into a republic without institutions. We may lose our Government, we may have no Vetting, we may have no President and we may not have Elections. No one is negotiating and no one wants to talk. Albania is now on a free fall. Even the political crisis is entering in crisis.\" said Blushi this evening on his Facebook page. CEC head Denar Biba has signaled the electoral body would be considering the postponement of the registration deadline to the 19th of April, but opposition leader Basha dismissed such suggestions as \'idiotic\', insisting that election registration deadline is tonight and that there would be no general elections on June 18 as long as Edi Rama is Prime Minister. Copyright 2017 TiranaEcho.com All Rights Reserved