By Alket Aliu
The leader of the Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha has declared that he be judged by the democrats in the voting within the party based on the principle “one member, one vote”. The decision was made public in a televised address around 8.45 pm, while the Socialist Party had ended its celebrations for the victory of the elections in Tirana’s central square.
Lulzim Basha said in his address that he had decided to assume all responsibility for the election result, although he considered it as a “triumph of unlawfulness”. According to him, crime and dirty money along with interference of the ruling party didn’t stop.
“Of course, I don’t put in the same sack the honest socialists and the honest leftists who continue to support their party. But they were equally deceived and betrayed, because they mistakenly believe that they are in a majority, when in fact, the mandates for the majority have not come out of them, but from the dirty corridors of the ruling party and organized crime”, Basha said.
For Basha, there is nothing to celebrate in the charade that took place.
But he also had a message for his opponents within the DP.
“I’m not the one who determines how much I have been mistaken and where I’ve been mistaken, but this cannot even be determined by those who didn’t fight a single day for the victory of the Democratic Party”.
“I have reflected a lot and I assume all the responsibility”, Basha said, adding that: “With immediate effect, I have decided to freeze all of my organizational functions as leader of the Democratic Party and I shall delegate them to the two vice chairmen and the general secretary of the party, in order to organize the elections for the leader of the Democratic Party based on the principle ‘one member one vote’”.
According to him, the easiest thing would be for him to leave, but he will not do this, because he has decided to fight with and for the democrats until the end.
“Not by leaving, not by abandoning democrats and hundreds of thousands of Albanians, but by fighting to the end, for them and with them”.
A few minutes before Basha’s declaration, a significant number of MPs, former MPs members of the Leading Committee and heads of departments within the DP, had demanded his resignation.
Basha’s declaration has not pleased the members of the group that seek his resignation. They have issued a second statement where they say that “he continues to violate the bylaws”.
“The decision that was taken from him to ‘freeze’ his functions as leader of the party is against the bylaws of the Albanian Democratic Party. The decision to delegate powers is also anti-constitutional. His declaration to hold on to his post shows that he doesn’t reflect on his responsibility for the catastrophic defeat of the Democratic Party”, say the 19 signatories of the first declaration.
The fact that Basha has ‘frozen’ his functions as leader of the party instead of resigning is what sparked a strong reaction by his opponents within the party.
Former deputy Prime Minister and former minister of Justice, Ilir Rusmali has considered Basha’s declaration to “freeze his functions” is “fiction and non-sense”. “The bylaws give no organizational function to the party leader. His functions are to lead and not to organize”.
Rusmali is drastic in his positioning: As a general rule, defeat leads to resignation. The catastrophic result should force him to leave politics once and for all.
Basha’s declaration also sparked the reaction of the former vice chairman of the Democratic party and former Speaker of Parliament, Jozefina Topalli. Known as one of Basha’s strongest opponents throughout the years and as the politician who along with former minister Imami demanded Basha’s discharge before the elections, Topalli has commented the “dramatic situation for the DP”, following “the catastrophic personal defeat of Lulzim Basha”.
“In a situation like this, when Lulzim Basha doesn’t accept to assume any responsibility, as it happens in any other country of the western world, (after taking the DP on the verge of the abyss), his reaction reflects banality, mockery and scary irresponsibility which could lead to a total annihilation of the DP”.
By launching a strong message that “the Democratic Party needs to be rescued!”, Mrs. Topalli requested a strong reaction by the democrats “with protests and different democratic forms with the aim of giving back the DP to the democrats”.
But not everyone within the DP are against Basha. One of the names that has stood by his side is the vice chairwoman of the Democratic Youth Forum, Besa Petrit, who has compared the declarations against Basha as the “wall posters of the communist regime”.
The declaration, who requested Basha’s resignation
Immediately after the finalization of the election process, a group of 19 signatories, part of the leading committee and the national committee of the Democratic Party, issued a declaration where they demand the resignation of the leader of the DP. A few minutes after this declaration was issued, another declaration came out, where the signatories are more in number, namely, around 75 members of the leading forums of the Democratic Party in Tirana and other parts of the country.
“The big defeat of the Democratic Party in these elections forces us to assume responsibility. Lulzim Basha, leader of DP, is the number one responsible for this defeat. What’s more, the leader of the Democratic Party has personally assumed, against the party’s bylaws, to draft the list of MPs and the campaign’s program, by removing the DP’s symbols and by creating undeserved divides within the party by branding people ‘this one belongs to the old republic’ among the 22 years olds of the Youth Forum”, the statement says.
The signatories accuse the leader of the Democratic Party of campaigning for “Basha’s List” by not reflecting on any of the concerns and the main causes of the opposition, such as criminalization of Parliament and administration, drugs, concessions, etc.
“Therefore, the leader of DP, Lulzim Basha, as the number one responsible for this defeat, must resign in order to give way to changes within the DP and its unification”, the statement concludes.
The list of signatories lacks the names of Jozefina Topalli and Arben Imami, who requested Lulzim Basha’s discharge before the elections, but among the names there are several ministers and former ministers such as Besnik Mustafaj, Majlinda Bregu, Genc Ruli, Ridvan Bode, Agron Musaraj, Igli Cara, Astrit Patozi, Keltis Kruja, Ardian Kollozi, Dashnor Sula, etc. Many others are former heads of institutions, former officials of the DP during the time when this party was in power. The list of signatories also included Jamarber Malltezi, son in law of former Prime Minister Berisha.
