Who should the DP blame?

Who should the DP blame?
This article has been written for Albanian Free Press newspaper and www.afp.al

By Sokol Balla

The noise that the Democratic Party made before the election of Gramoz Ruçi as Assembly speaker received the answer that it deserved: First of all, at least three of its MPs contributed for his election as no. 2 of the state. For the DP, this was lightening striking in blue sky, not because it was it its first day of the second term in opposition, but because it started it in the morning with an action against Ruçi and ended it with an action in his favor. But I believe this is the epilogue of a behavior of the Democratic Party which dates back earlier than this. This failure cannot only be attributed to Lulzim Basha.

The DP has been trying to symbolize Gramoz Ruçi with communism since 1991, in an attempt to manipulate history. It’s true that Gramoz Ruçi comes from the ranks of the Labor Party, but not from the ‘60s, He was promoted at the end of the ‘80s, when the former Labor Party was trying to refresh its ranks which belonged to the time of the communists of the Warsaw Pact, with coherent representatives of the population. During this time, future officials of the Democratic Party held important positions in central institutions, from universities, faculties, the Writers’ League and the Central Committee. Many of them had seen Paris long before Gramoz Ruçi had seen Tirana. And here, I’m referring to the period before December 1990.

Also, as far as the events of April 2 are concerned, it’s been 27 years that the DP is trying to say another thing about Gramoz Ruçi which is not true. The Labor Party had been leading a cruel regime for 50 years. At the end of the 1980’s, it became even more merciless, killing people on the border, after lying to them and telling them that evading the country was nothing else but a contravention.

On the other hand, after December 1990, nobody can compare the Albanian transition period with the bloody transitions that other countries of the East went through. April 2, the February 1991 demonstrations and several other events, are not enough to conclude that we made a bloody resistance against the regime, as it happened in several communist countries of the East. What’s worse, nobody can say that these bloody events, where politics and the state raised the weapons against civilians, have been the “monopoly” of one party or one political side in these 27 years.

With the DP not being sincere about the issue surrounding Gramoz Ruçi, we often forget that in contrast to the political suspects of the January 21 trial, Gramoz Ruçi appeared before the Court of Shkodra at his own will at that time. Without guards, without lawyers, he walked amid the thousands and thousands of anti-communist and irritated residents of Shkodra, where he confessed his version of the events. A version which I’m not saying that I believe in. But as someone says at the TV show, Narcos: “If he had something to hide, why didn’t he make a run for it”?

Why didn’t Gramoz Ruçi avoid his testimony? Why he was never declared guilty? Gramoz Ruçi remained guilty as a result of Berisha’s rhetoric during the past 27 years, while our transition has experienced much darker events than the 2 April 1991 and for which we know who the authors are. 1997, 14 September, Gerdec, 21 January are only some of them. And everyone who was behind them, is there, in Parliament. Some of them since 1991. The same time that Gramoz Ruçi has been in Parliament.

Now, let us talk a little about what could have happened with yesterday’s voting in parliament. The sale of votes is a credible version. Based on information, if SMI had participated in the voting, Ruçi could have been voted by 82 or 83 MPs. But today, the DP condemned the sale of vote, forgetting that “karma is a bitch”. Since 2005, Berisha took in, although he didn’t need, left wing parties in his government, with the only purpose of stressing out political opponents in opposition, the same as Rama is doing today, if we believe this version. In July 2007, 6 socialist MPs voted in favor of the vice chairman of the DP in a post higher than the one held by Ruçi today, that of the President of Republic. In 2009, Berisha governed thanks to SMI and at the end of the term in office, he “borrowed” three socialist MPs to keep the government on its feet. It even made them MPs a few months later under its flag. Among them was the former Assembly speaker from the ranks of the Labor Party, the man who after the overthrow of the monument of Enver Hoxha, two months before 2 April 1991, was heard to have said that he would send his children to Skrapar and would take out the tanks to kill the people on the square. It’s ironic that today, Berisha is complaining why three democrat MPs voted Ruçi, who came to Tirana later than Islami had visited Paris, as his successor in the post that he used to hold in 1991.

But of course, this is not only a karma issue. Lulzim Basha is also to be blamed about this.

The other version, that of vote rigging in Parliament, cannot be proved, even it is true. Yesterday, Lulzim Basha complained that even these votes were stolen to him, but he pretended he forgot about the fact that the DP did not agree to send a member in the ballot counting commission. The same thing was done during the Administrative Reform, when it didn’t send any representatives. The same thing was done in the Judicial Reform for more than two years. Yesterday’s failure of the Democratic Party in this sense, was an exclusive failure by Lulzim Basha and the way he did opposition for 45 months and he finalized the last three months, when he behaved differently, through a deal that he still cannot believe that he did.

His apology today in the parliamentary group is not enough, although he did it in the wrong place. When he spoke, he had in front of him people who are almost unknown and whom he elected to represent the DP in Parliament. But they didn’t come as a choice of the party, but his own personal choice. Basha’s apology and Berisha’s shouting were made in front of an amorphous group, where at least three people were smirking. But today, it seems more plausible that Ruçi has been voted by some MP who spends half of his day with Sadri Abazi and discuss business with him, knowing that Sadri Abazi spends his other half of the day with the new Assembly speaker rather than Paloka, Spaho or Vokshi. It seems more plausible that Ruçi has been voted by some mug that up until yesterday spent time with the new “boys” of the SP, rather than Florian Mima. This is Basha’s new DP. He considered this his new bet. Let him keep it now, but instead of blaming others, he should look for responsibilities within himself.

In conclusion, the ranks of the Democratic Party are the only place to find the responsible and the incompetent ones who must be blamed for what happened yesterday. The karma wonders like Macbeth’s ghost, from Berisha’s office to Salianji’s office. But there’s no point in criticizing him either. If the DP doesn’t change, it’s not his fault.

For this and other sins, Berisha needs to look at the mirror. And he doesn’t need to open his eyes wide, for he will quickly realize that both the problem and the solution are in front of him.

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

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