Analysts for the local elections: The deep defeat of the DP came from the boycott of the citizens

2023-05-16 19:48:00, Aktualitet CNA

Analysts for the local elections: The deep defeat of the DP came from the

In Albania, independent researchers and opposition politicians claim that the deep victory of the Socialist Party in the local elections came mostly because of the difficult situation in which the Democratic Party finds itself today.

They think that the citizens abandoned the Democratic Party, because it appeared divided, without an alternative and conflictual, and that its essential recovery will alienate the political developments in Albania.

Researcher Afrim Krasniqi says that no real opposition was presented in the local elections, so the citizens rejected the opposition.

"There is a massive rejection of undecided citizens, moderate citizens, young voters and critical people of this country for the opposition's offer. They demand that Albania have an alternative. The non-participation in the elections is dedicated to the boycott, which they have made to the opposition's offer, which was not an offer in the name of the opposition, but it was a kind of personal offer and a personal fight of the opposition's leadership", says Mr. Krasniqi.

Other researchers estimate that Albanian democracy is in danger, as long as the central and local government are symmetrical, and that the monochrome map of local government does not bring any good.

Researcher Nevila Xhindi points out that the non-participation of the opposition in the local elections of 2019 and the vicious individual project of that time caused the crisis of several years, today's abandonment by citizens and the traumatization of the Albanian electorate.

"I read two moments: we have a boycott of local elections and we have a dead opposition. So, democracy is in great danger. People boycotted the individual political project of the Albanian right, as well as boycotted the political project of the Albanian opposition, which was fragmented, multipolar and did not produce anything", says Ms. Xhindi.

In the ranks of opposition MPs, the situation is equally difficult. Educator and publicist Agron Gjekmarkaj, the opposition vice president of the Assembly, says that the results of the local elections are an electoral disaster for the opposition.

"Citizens expressed their tiredness towards the state of the opposition, full of divisions and harsh language against each other, up to physical clashes between them. "Approximately 200,000 people abandoned it, staying at home, because the democrats did not like Mr. Berisha's language of conflict with the USA and the Western world," says Mr. Gjekmarkaj.

He does not rule out abuses by the socialists with power and the vote, but he admitted that there was no pro-opposition spirit in the election.

"If Foltorja is bunkered and Berisha continues with the same language, sitting at the head of it, together with his own group, which no longer shines in anything, and if the other group will hold elections, being called the Democratic Party without being the Democratic Party , that the party is made up of people, then we will have a continuous war, an annihilation and a political suicide", says Mr. Gjekmarkaj.

Researchers are still skeptical if the Democratic Party will recover quickly, although they stress that Albania is in vital need of its reformation.

Mr. Krasniqi says that the parliamentary group, which should carry out the reform, is weak, divided, clientelistic and not representative.

He emphasizes that the interests of the politicians who represent the opposition today do not match the interests of the Albanian society today.

"There is no mathematical formula for someone to leave and someone to come, but it is clearly visible that Albanian citizens are not ready to vote for individuals who have been proven during the transition and who in the last campaign invested more in rhetoric against the USA, Great Britain and other Western allies than against the corrupt and oligarchic system in Albania", says Mr. Krasniqi.

The researchers estimate that the compromised democracy within the political parties and within their youth forums prevents the emergence of reformist groups with a new spirit, harming the democracy of the entire country.

Ms. Xhindi says that the last elections were a call and a lesson for the Albanian opposition.

She emphasized that the reconceptualization of the right, supported by a new motivating spirit, will not happen easily, but it must happen, if the same gloomy situation and a monochromatic Albania must be avoided from the 2025 elections.

"We need new people, with a new philosophy to reconceive the right as a party that will give hope in this country. Otherwise, the situation in the 2025 elections will not be new. We read in the sad daily newspaper of this country that people emigrate because there is no hope in this country and the hope in this country is brought by the Albanian opposition", says Ms. Xhindi.

On the other hand, Mr. Gjekmarkaj thinks that the groups in the Democratic Party should not rush to elect returning leaders, Foltorja should stop folkloric revenge and absurd aggressiveness, while former Prime Minister Sali Berisha should step aside and create space for the two parts and DP to try for a new establishment of the opposition, a new opposition without losing the old supporters.

"Groups should not be extreme, and act as if nothing has happened and talk about new battles or new victories. This would turn the tragedy into a comedy. The official PD should not rush to elect leadership forums in this dire situation, but create space and time, and suspend predictable activities to elect returning leaders, which would be another suicide. If PD must be saved, minds must be cooled and PD must be redefined," says Mr. Gjekmarkaj.

According to him, the Democratic Party must rebuild its relations with society, with new ideas and new dynamics and carry out a real re-establishment with new people and without its two former leaders, Berisha and Basha, who are responsible main of this condition.

"The Democratic Party does not need to immediately go to the elections to produce a leadership. It really needs to be re-founded from an ideological point of view, from a practical point of view, and to go after a few months, after the normal merger and integration towards a new leadership, which should not be either Sali Berisha or Lulzim Basha" , says Mr. Gjekmarkaj.

Analysts of political life in the country believe that the Socialist Party has won many municipalities with minimal numbers, has united itself with the state, and has created a dangerous clientelistic system for Albania, because it blocks reforms and democratic space in Albania.

The researcher Afrim Krasniqi says that this asphyxiating system has now become more powerful than the Socialist Party itself, because the militants vote in uniformity every time.

"The Socialist Party is not a reformist and there was no debate on decentralization, on European integration, on major reforms as a country awaiting EU membership. The SP's power to reform has been significantly limited, but the Socialist Party's power to reform itself is impossible in this situation. In the 15 main municipalities, there is no competition and no accountability, the same people are re-elected with the same number of votes, which means that the system wins and not the individuals", says Mr. Krasniqi.

He added that the government was involved with all its segments in the campaign, used the budget, the administration and all other resources, and even threatened that the municipalities that would not vote for the socialists would not receive funds.

While the researcher Nevila Xhindi says that the government took back the same municipalities that it had earlier thanks to the opposition's boycott from 2019, even though many of them are on the verge of economic bankruptcy.

"This situation is a regressive suspension with extraordinary consequences for local autonomy. On the other hand, the citizens had clearly read what was happening with the Albanian right and the Albanian opposition", says Mrs. Xhindi.

Analysts claim that the boycott of the Assembly and local elections severely damaged the Democratic Party itself with the tensions that were caused, while the return to institutions and its reconstruction still seem to be very difficult processes./VOA