Is the DP ready to come in power?

By Roland Qafoku

Saturday’s National Assembly of the Democratic Party told us a lot about this political party. It’s been five and a half years since Lulzim Basha has been elected as party chairman, nevertheless, he has not been able to increase the number of the supporters that this party has. This, in turn, raises more doubts as to whether the Democratic Party is ready to seize power from the Socialist Party in the 2021 parliamentary elections or not. The Democratic Party is like a plane which is still taking off. This plane is facing a big dilemma: must it change the type of aircraft or must it change the pilot himself? The Democratic Party and Basha himself seem to be convinced about the fact that the international community will not allow Rama to remain in power for more than 8 years, in power. A normal speech which did not inspire, the lack of trust that has accompanied him or the resignations of 10 candidates for the National Committee tells us not only that this party faces a number of issues, but it also explains why Edi Rama is not at all worried despite the fact that over 20 thousand students have taken to the streets in protest in the past 10 days.

NO VIOLENCE TO SEIZE POWER

If there’s one thing that can be considered as positive in the DP’s National Assembly is the part when the chairman of the party, Lulzim Basha openly declared that the Democratic Party will not come into power through violence. During the past few days, while students have been in protest, many of the DP’s representatives and party supporters were inclined not only to join the protest, but also to trigger a revolution which would remove Rama as Prime Minister. But Basha didn’t allow them to dream any further and he deserves to be applauded for this. For the first time in these 28 years, a political party makes it clear that it doesn’t aim to come in power through the use of violence. We must say that Albanian politics have entered a new phase: power is taken through elections and not violence.

RETURNEES?

Lulzim Basha was happy to see many of the faces who had returned. The first one was Gazmend Oketa, who became part of the New Democratic Spirit party. The other one is Aleksander Biberaj. Although he joined this party, he was not there from the outset. However, Basha cannot feel good about the fact that he wanted to make up for the departure of many figures from the Democratic Party with two people who left during Berisha’s period.

THOSE WHO LEFT THE PARTY

The National Assembly lacked Ridvan Bode, Astrit Patozi, Arben Imami, Majlinda Bregu, but also Jozefina Topalli, former speaker of parliament and Eduard Selami, former party chairman, who according to the party’s statute, are members of the National Council. But what we noticed the most were the numerous figures who had resigned. Edith Harxhi, Edvin Kulluri, Arben Skënderi, Fabian Topollaj, Gent Minarolli, Valbona Mezini, Erla Mëhilli, Mimoza Hajdarmata, each of them gave a reason why they were not becoming part of the race. A part of them had not been informed that they were part of the race and this shows a lack of seriousness by chairman Basha.  A part of them said that they had other engagements, while many of them openly declared that they did not agree with the way Basha was leading the party.

THE NEW POLITICAL ELITE

Chairman Basha declared that the country needs a new political elite. Although this is not the first time that such idea is articulated, it has a vital importance for the country. “There must be a new generation of politicians, a new elite in the country, able to inspire change”, he declared, implying that the new generation is the one who should fight the country’s ruling class today. However, the DP does have many new figures in its ranks, but not every youngster represents the new political elite, because what they need to have above all are values.

Note: The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Albanian Free Press’ editorial policy