Berisha competes alone, but comes second

2026-05-01 17:45:00, Opinione Ardi Stefa

In a race where there is only one candidate, coming in second is an achievement that requires rare talent.

Sali Berisha seems to possess this talent better than anyone else. In the May 23rd “elections” for the leadership of the Democratic Party, he is no longer running against an opponent from within his own political force and is losing. Berisha is running with no opponents.

And, despite the fact that Berisha will win on May 23, it is a victory that does not convince anyone: neither those who announce it, nor the one who wins.

Because even those who were supposed to challenge him have been eliminated and anathemaed, declaring them enemies, while the Democrats, regardless of the number of votes in the ballot boxes that day, have chosen a more painful way to overthrow him: they are leaving him alone.

Berisha will come out first in the box. But outside the box he is second. Because the first is abandonment. The first is rejection. The first is silence. The first are the democrats who no longer come, who no longer believe, who no longer have the nerve to get angry. Because anger requires hope. Meanwhile, Berisha is a leader who wins every race in the DP and loses every battle with the opponent. And Berisha's DP has long since produced neither hope nor an alternative; only defeat with Rama and victory with "internal enemies."

This is the tragicomedy of a party that once mobilized thousands of people, while today it barely finds justifications. A party that once carried the weight of pluralism and today barely carries its own weight. But this state of the DP is, in fact, the tragedy of Albania, which, despite how much it is articulated in the media, is without opposition. Berisha increasingly resembles that actor who is left alone on stage, but continues to recite as if the hall is full. And the more he repeats the role, the more the loneliness and lack of people, the lack of enthusiasm, the lack of trust are revealed.

Democrats and the opposition are no longer defeating Berisha with votes. It was seen in the 2025 elections how much they abandoned him. While today they are defeating him and devaluing him with indifference. With rejection, which is the purest form of voting against. And this is the most serious loss a political leader can suffer: people who no longer feel angry or disappointed, but tired and disgusted.

The Democrats are increasingly defeating him by articulating out loud what they once dared not. By having the courage to respond to the mud he throws. By having the courage to tell him to his face that he has lied to them for so many years and is actually cementing Rama's power.

It must be understood that the problem is not the fact that Berisha comes second. The problem is that there is no longer a first place for him.