Rama is himself sketching out his last day in power.

2025-07-23 19:48:00, Opinione Andi Bushati

The recent events in the municipality of Tirana, after those that started in Vlora and spread throughout the country, have sealed even for the most skeptical that Albania is commanded by a single man. It is Edi Rama who determines when the local government administration will be massively dismissed, when the police will crack down on unauthorized construction, without reviewing court decisions, in complete disregard of the separation of powers, local autonomy or the balances of a legal state.

However, along with the enormous accumulation of power, which is reinforced by total control over a parliamentary majority that can change laws by ? and by the dominance of local government (over 90% of municipalities), the situation is not as rosy as it seems.

The more power he takes upon himself, the more Edi Rama increases the price he has to pay. It is worth taking just one example for this. So far, for every major scandal that has erupted, the prime minister has had a ready answer. The permanent alibi has been that his intentions were good, leaving the blame to his "teammates", whose conscience has been clouded by the thirst for dishonest gain. Although for any mind with normal logic these were insufferable nonsense, for a part of the militant electorate, the lie that someone ate plums and pears behind the back of "that tall guy", continued to be repeated, even as an excuse.

But, it seems that with the victory of the fourth term, with the final zenithization of the SP and the lynching of Veliaj, which closed the cycle of purges of those with whom he won power in 2013, Rama can no longer use the alibi that he did not have things under control and that his friends had infiltrated him from behind.

For example, can the municipalities of Elbasan, Fier or Tirana be blamed, as they were until yesterday, for scandals similar to that of the incinerators, now that the head of government has come out openly by dismissing and appointing the entire local government body himself? Can the "I had no idea" trick work anymore, for affairs like that of "5D", when it has been publicly admitted that even cities are now governed by the prime minister? Can the excuse be used for segments or individuals who go against the line of the great project that the leader has decided?

Of course, no one believed this nonsense before, but the difference is that now it is Rama himself who has decided to leave himself without an alibi. Even formally, he has taken responsibility for it.

What does this new phase of giving up alibis and declaring that I am now the master of this country mean?

At first glance and for a short time, it speaks of the omnipotence of Edi Rama. Of his almost absolute power. But on the other hand, it is outlining a path with high costs, first for the country, but above all for the one who has chosen it. Here's why.

In the way he has built his reign, Edi Rama cannot last a single day without feeding his power with corruption. The way he decides on towers, concessions, and resorts on the coast, personally passing them on to a handful of people, who are the same ones who control his media shield, who finance elections, and who corrupt foreign officials or advisors, constitutes a system that is now irreversible. Both as an economic model and as a way of survival at the top of government, they are now irreversible.

If they have been like this until today, the latest innovation lies in the fact that Rama has now emerged as the sole god, without sharing responsibility with anyone.

He has entered the familiar phase of deep loneliness of power that every autocrat necessarily goes through, as he is initially surrounded only by lackeys, serviles, and eunuchs.

But history has often shown that with this solitude and taking on responsibilities comes anxiety and fear of one day being removed from power. A leader who has made a scorched earth around him and who has taken on all responsibilities fears only one thing: the day of judgment. He works by every means to ward it off.

This is precisely why we have entered a phase where a political solution through voting and elections has become more impossible than ever, moving ever closer to a version with a traumatic ending.

It doesn't matter how long Edi Rama will stay in power after winning this fourth mandate. Regardless of whether this time will be four, eight or twenty years, the preliminary choice he has made, preferring a corrupt model of exercising power accompanied by recent moves to no longer share responsibility with anyone, are the preconditions that determine the manner of his departure. The stronger the power seems today, the more tragic its dissolution will be tomorrow. The more eternal Rama seems today, the worse his fate could be tomorrow. The problem is that these types of solutions are not only problematic for the fate of a single person.