Dibra’s mayoral by-election seen as test for national parties
Story Highlights
- Opinion polls show there is likely going to be a tight race between the ruling Socialist Party candidate, Muharem Rama, and the opposition Democratic Party contender, Sherefedin Shehu.
Related Articles
TIRANA, Sept. 8 – Tirana’s political elite has turned its focus on a poor rural municipality in eastern Albania, where mayoral by-elections are being seen as a test for the ruling coalition ahead of general elections next year.
Sunday’s mayoral by-election in Dibra Municipality, which encompases the town of Peshkopi and nearby villages on the border with Macedonia, has received outsized attention by both the ruling Socialist-led coalition and the opposition Democrats. Both sides are looking for a victory to build momentum for the general elections next year, political observers say.
The mayoral by-election comes four months after the former Socialist mayor, Shukri Xhelili, was sacked after he was arrested on abuse of power charges when he was caught on hidden camera promising a young woman a job in return for obtaining sexual favors.
Opinion polls show there is likely going to be a tight race between the ruling Socialist Party candidate, Muharem Rama, and the opposition Democratic Party contender, Sherefedin Shehu.
Shehu, 60, a senior figure of the opposition Democrats, served as a deputy finance minister from 2005 to 2009 when the Democrats were in power and has been an MP of the Dibra region since 2009. He has given up his MP mandate to compete in the mayoral race. His candidacy is backed by 11 small opposition Democratic ally parties participating in the by-election, of which the most important are the Republican Party and Red and Black Alliance nationalistic party.
Meanwhile, ruling Socialist Party candidate Muharem Rama enjoys the support of the Socialists junior ally, the Socialist Movement for Integration, and the Party for Justice, Integration and Unity whose votes have secured the ruling coalition a qualified majority of more than 84 votes in the 140-seat Parliament.
Rama, 48, is a well-known surgeon in Dibra and has recently served as the director of Dibra regional hospital.
Opposition Democratic Party candidate Shehu has described the Dibra mayoral by-election as elections to bring hope and employment to a community where he grew up. He has focused his campaign on offering lower local government taxes and boosting agriculture and tourism in one of the country’s poorest areas.
“With me as mayor and Lulzim Basha [opposition leader] as prime minister we will build the Arbri Road and implement many projects that will transform Dibra into a potential of economic development with competitive agriculture and tourism in the region,” Shehu has said.
The opposition Democratic Party has also filed a lawsuit with the prosecutor’s office against what it calls a structured criminal gang composed of senior state officials intimidating voters and engaged in vote buying activities during the campaigning, accusations which the ruling Socialists have dismissed as “an alibi for the Democrats’ electoral defeat.”
Ruling Socialist Party candidate Muharem Rama, who has been strongly supported by government ministers during his campaigning, has promised to upgrade local road infrastructure and increase subsidies to local farmers.
“You have seen for yourselves that the town of Peshkopi has turned into a huge construction site. We have projects to rehabilitate the sewerage and drinking water systems, projects to build the cemetery road and a program on agriculture and farming subsidies,” Rama has said.
Energy Minister Damian Gjiknuri, the Socialist Party coordinator for Dibra region, has said that the SP candidate’s victory is guarantee that all promises will become a reality.
“Imagine a Democratic Party mayor, how is he going to solve your problems without the government support? The government has started to support Dibra, some investments have already been carried out and more will come,” he has told SP supporters in Dibra.
The opposition has criticized the comments, saying they promote discrimination against areas where voters support the opposition.
The Dibra Municipality has seen a boom in road and sewerage infrastructure tenders as elections near. Prime Minister Edi Rama has also promised to complete the Arbri Road Highway, a key segment for the underdeveloped Dibra region which also links Albania to neighboring Macedonia, although concession negotiations with a Chinese company have stalled.
The Health Ministry has launched a Euro 600,000 project to reconstruct the local polyclinic in the Peshkopi town while a mobile mammography unit is offering breast cancer screening to local women.
One of the country’s poorest regions, the Dibra Municipality has a resident population of 62,000 people who mainly rely on agriculture and mining.
Former Dibra Mayor Shukri Xhelili, 56, was arrested last May on abuse of power charges following a video showing him asking sexual favors from a 20-year old woman in return for a job.
The June 2015 local elections were won by the ruling Socialists by a narrow margin also thanks to some independent mayoral candidates formerly associated with the right wing helping the former Socialist mayor win the race by only 500 votes.
The Dibra mayoral race is also seen as a key test for the opposition Democrats following landslide losses in the past 2013 general elections and the 2015 local elections.
A territorial and administrative reform in 2014 cut the country’s local government units to 61 municipalities, down from a previous 373 municipalities and communes.
