By Skender Minxhozi
Usually, in journalism we often use the term “the perfect storm”. It relates to those cases when situations are tense and when important developments are expected to happen after a big turn. It’s hard to use this term when it comes to the boring and somehow ridiculous campaign of June 25 elections, which is dominated by jokes, lack of program and direct confrontation.
But we can use that term when it comes to the situation that SMI, its chairman and its former chairman find themselves at the present. This is why:
If there is a tense and aggressive part of this campaign, then this sector is the one covered by the red color of the Socialist Movement for Integration. Without the impulse and debate that this party is offering to these elections, we would certainly be looking at the most boring election campaigns of all times in Albania.
Now, the eternal and strategic allies have turned into “criminal organization” or “leeches that must be crushed through the power of vote”. This inverse evolution of the duo Rama-Meta in less than a month (since 17 May 2017 to be more accurate), has made us forget the regular meetings that they used to hold with each other, the patting on the shoulder in public, the famous dinner of the New Bazaar with the quasi-agreement that followed and the invitations of the leader of the SP to renew the four year “marriage” and the rest of the journey that these parties embarked on together four years ago. What we see now in this campaign are no longer two partners, but two enemies. And when it comes to such war, the clash is strong and accusations against each other know no boundaries or limits. For instance, today we learn from the very mouth of senior officials of SMI that the accusations launched in the past for import of wastes in the territory of Albania by Rama’s government, are true and not just gossips. And this party used to confirm it through its silence.
It seems a paradox, but Ilir Meta painted this surreal picture that we see today with his own hands. He insisted on having the opposition as part of Rama’s government (I can sacrifice four of my ministers and I can even resign from the post of President should it be necessary), he refused the numerous public invitations that Rama addressed to him for a pre-election coalition, with the condition that he should convince the opposition to enter the elections in order for the latter to have faith on the process (government of confidence), he repeated incessantly that without the opposition, the June 18 elections would not be valid, he validated more than once the requests that Basha articulated on a daily basis from the Tent and was not bothered when he was often called as the main guarantor of the Tent.
So, with his own hands, he dug a big and deep hole, which neither his extraordinary hunch, nor his long political experience of 26 years, helped him see, although it was so close. This hole was only a few meters from his office, where Rama and Basha stayed in a room for four hours on May 17, by preparing the biggest political trap ever contrived against the Speaker of Parliament and President elect.
Ilir Meta has predicted anything in his Albanian political game in the past 13 years, since he launched the logo of SMI in 2004. His prediction that this political force would act as a barometer in Albanian politics was one of the biggest predictions of Albania’s history of pluralism and the long list of “victims”, which started with Nano, continued with Rama and then with Berisha in 2013, is a solid proof to the key role that this party has played in Albanian politics in the past decade.
There was only one element which was not included in any of the hypothetical combinations of the chairman of SMI: that SMI would not be part of decision making and political compromise one day. In other words, that SMI would not be a relevant factor when it came to dividing power. Since SMI entered Parliament in 2005 with five seats, it has never been so close to exiting the sphere of influence and power than now. This is also felt by Ilir Meta who is using a stronger language. It is felt by the party’s structures, while physical clashes have started to emerge, as it was the case of Fier. SMI’s problem now relates to the fact this time, it must not face only Rama, as it happened in 2009, when it had “Berisha’s card” up its sleeve, but it is also facing the right wing opposition, which is only partially led by the former Prime Minister and former leader of DP, Sali Berisha.
On top of this, the fact that the opposition is weak and it joined the campaign later than it should have, makes it easier for Rama to win a majority in parliament. This way, Ilir Meta sees himself today withdrawn in a campaign where he needs to play the role of a football hooligan, ignoring the position of the president, in which he was elected. Not to forget that he’s not on the list of candidates for parliament, in case divinity played a trick on him and left him outside the Presidential Palace on July 24, while he has left the party in the hands of a successor, whom even the doorman at the party’s headquarters sees him the same way democrats saw Lulzim Basha on the day he took Sali Berisha’s office. Meta is entering a surprising campaign, in circumstances that even he hadn’t fathomed of a month ago. In circumstances of a politician who must run after a departing train. The same train in which he traditionally used to sit at the first row of the first coach.
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Note: The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Albanian Free Press’ editorial policy
