By Roland Qafoku
Lulzim Basha has left himself in the shadow. He is no longer present in TV programs, although before the June 25 elections he appeared quite frequently in them. What he now prefers to do are meetings with the party’s members, which are aired on TV as 90 second newsreels in the evening news. He likes the time that he spent in the tent, but he hesitates when he recalls the shameful way in which he finalized his best political action with that 5 hour deal head to head with Edi Rama on 18 May. Debates with the opponent in strange rooms with strange spectators, have very little or no enthusiasm at all. His campaign resembles to a muffled campaign. On the other hand, for the first time since he arrived from the USA in the spring of 2012, Eduard Selami is playing the protagonist. The instincts and reflexes that he had from 1990 until 1995 have awoken once again and his stature is rising again. Everyone wants him on screen and he’s news for all journalists in this summer which is lacking news. However, this Eduard is far from the one that we knew 22 years ago, when he raised his voice with a platform that they opposed strongly, but implemented it entirely, although he was discharged disgracefully. He doesn’t have a clear vision for the leadership of the DP, he doesn’t have support, but with the assurance of defeat in his pocket, he has only one sure victory: Four years after his return, what he’s doing is news on the media. In this entire picture, “Silent Duel” is the most appropriate name for the race between Lulzim Basha and Eduard Selami, based on the name, but not the content of a film produced during the time of socialist realism. Although the film had four main characters who fought to evade and prevent an evasion with a ship, the director chose this title to make it look as if the war was taking place between two characters. Symbolically, this is what’s happening in the race within the DP too. Although we have Lulzim Basha, Eduard Selami, Sali Berisha and Astrit Patozi, who represents a group of senators, in fact, the official race is taking place between Basha and Selami. The only reason for this is that this race is not expected to produce anything. We already know who the winner will be and as of Saturday 22 July, Lulzim Basha will receive a second mandate to lead the Democratic Party, while Eduard Selami will merely enter the history of the Democratic Party for racing for the post of the chairman for the second time in his career.
Even the most enthusiasts don’t believe that Selami has any chance of winning this race. This resembles to the battle between Ramiz Alia and Namik Dokle in the 1991 presidential race. This race resembles to the battle between Sali Berisha and Uran Butka for the leadership of the DP. It resembles to the race for the leader of SMI between Ilir Meta and Luan Rama, but also to the race for the leader of SP between Edi Rama and Maqo Lakrori. In fact, people within the DP and outside of it, are more worried about the future of this party rather than the race itself. It was quite true what Arbi Agalliu, one of the coordinators of this party said a week ago that Basha has another 500 days as party leader until the 2019 local government elections. If these elections will not offer e perception of victory in the 2012 general elections, he must surely leave. But what will happen with Selami once he loses the race. Some have alluded that he will be positioned as General Secretary, to replace Arben Ristani. If this actually happens, his loss will not be a mere loss, but a personal catastrophe of the best values that he has. But if Selami turns this scenario down, he will certainly improve his position in politics and it may come as no surprise if in the future, he acts as one of the most protagonist figures within the DP. Everything depends on him.
Another issue of this race and the future of the Democratic Party relates to the sphinx like silence manifested by Sali Berisha. The senator democrats have attempted in numerous occasions to convince him to intervene in what they consider to be a real mess taking place within the DP. In the “Debate in Channel One” political show, Jozefina Topalli went as far as saying that Lulzim Basha exceeded Enver Hoxha, because the late dictator used to at least convene the political bureau when he took a decision. However, even after this declaration, Berisha kept quiet, making Topalli have doubts on her idle.
In the end, all of this calm campaign seems like a sea before the storm. It’s true that on 22 July we will have a chairman that will win a second mandate as head of DP, but after this date, we will have a summer storm which will seriously threaten this mandate. Now, before the storm, what we have is a simple silent duel before Basha and Selami.
Note: The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Albanian Free Press’ editorial policy
