Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7
p.m. in Albania, where votes are being cast today to choose
between incumbent Prime Minister Edi Rama, a socialist, and Sali
Berisha, a former president of the republic and former premier
who has returned to lead his center-right Democratic Party at
the head of a broad coalition, in a vote considered crucial to
the small Balkan country's European dreams. On the ground more
than 2,000 foreign and Albanian observers and, in particular,
under the watchful eye of the international community. The
country, by far the most pro-European in the region, has waited
13 years between obtaining EU candidate status and opening
negotiations in July 2022. Today a new challenge is added: for
the first time, the diaspora will vote from abroad. Albania, a
low-wage country, is experiencing, like the rest of the Balkans,
an exodus of its inhabitants in search of opportunities,
particularly the better-educated young people, to countries such
as Germany and Italy. According to official data from the
Central Election Commission (Cec), some 246,000 Albanians living
abroad are registered to vote. In all, there are about 3.7
million eligible voters. Competing are candidates from 40
parties under a proportional system. But the real duel will be
between Edi Rama, 60, leader of the Socialist Party since 2005,
who is seeking a fourth consecutive term as prime minister, and
Sali Berisha, 80, who now aspires to an economically prosperous
'Greater Albania'. Joining him on the campaign trail is an
adviser to Donald Trump's party, Chris LaCivita. Albania must
choose the 140 members of parliament, dominated for 12 years by
Rama's Socialists. Sali Berisha, is former president of the
republic and former premier for two terms from 2005 to 2013,
back at the head of his Democratic Party (PD), the main
political force of the center-right opposition and competing
with a broad coalition of 22 other political formations around
him. There are also eight other parties and three coalitions,
much of it born out of fractions within the PD. It is in the
sign of the EU that Rama has built his campaign, promising the
conclusion of negotiations in 2027 and full membership by 2030,
despite the fact that this is a goal beyond the future mandate.
"In front of us there is only one date to be able to win the
historic bet with Europe. For Albania and with Albania in
Europe," was the premier's leitmotif. His appeal is addressed to
all, "without political distinction, to live up to this
encounter with history and not to allow the open door of the EU
to close." Berisha also speaks of these elections as "a
historic moment for the country's future," promising "a new
Albania, emancipated from crime and corruption." But more than
in the economic program and promises for tax cuts, the Albanian
opposition seems to pin its hopes on the "magic" of Chris
Lacivita. "Your name, your experience have become the elixir of
this campaign, and will be the spirit of our victory," Berisha
said, addressing LaCivita at the campaign's closing rally.
"Let's make Albania great again," was the slogan chosen by
Berisha, who wanted to imitate Trump no only in the slogan but
also in his public appearances, always wearing a baseball cap,
blue in color though, like his own party's. A choice meant to be
a provocation toward the decision of the U.S. State Department,
which in the Biden era declared him "persona non grata" for
"serious acts of corruption." An act, Berisha has always
claimed, that was sponsored by tycoon George Soros to come "to
the aid of the left." Berisha has not yet made public the
financial aspect of the U.S. consultant's engagement, while last
month, his party also signed a lobbying contract in the U.S. for
as much as $6 million "paid by Albanian patriots living in
America," but still unknown. A corruption charge also hangs over
the former president, however, from Albania's Special
Prosecutor's Office against Organized Crime and Corruption
(Spak), which held him "under house arrest" until last November.
His ally and leader of the Freedom Party, former Republic
President Ilir Meta, has been in jail for several months,
arrested for "corruption and money laundering." Another ally,
Republican Party chairman Fatmir Mediu, is under investigation
for "abuse of office" in another trial. Rama is also running
for reelection after a series of corruption scandals involving
the majority over the past two years, with several of his
mayors, former senior officials, and former ministers ending up
in handcuffs, including former deputy premier Arben Ahmetaj, who
fled to Switzerland. The arrest last February, also of Tirana's
mayor for alleged corruption appeared to be a major blow three
months before the elections. Polls, on the other hand, have
shown the opposite: Rama and his party have a clear lead, so
much so that the premier has even made a public bet, betting on
winning a minimum of 78 seats (four more than the current ones)
and a maximum of 88, which would even guarantee him an absolute
majority in Parliament.
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