TIRANA, April 24 – Former Democratic Party members and former members of its governing forums founded on Tuesday, on the last day of registration, the new Democratic Conviction (DC) party, which will participate in the upcoming, local June 30 elections.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the opposition’s resigned Democratic Party formally signed an agreement with its seven allies that foresees the boycott of the local elections unless Prime Minister Edi Rama doesn’t resign and a caretaker government that will enable early elections doesn’t get established.
The agreement also foresees that the opposition allies commit in sabotaging the elections altogether, as according to the DP they will be “fake elections.”
Meanwhile, Head of the DP Lulzim Basha said the new DC is a fake opposition party.
After a meeting on Tuesday, the DP’s former number two Astrit Patozi and other names, former members of the ruling forums of this party, registered the newest opposition political force in the country which they named Democratic Conviction.
In a long Facebook post, Patozi, who appears to be the leading figure, explained that this party “was born out of the strong conviction of free citizens of this country for a new political project.”
“The DC is and will be a serious and completely independent offer, whenever there is elections in Albania,” wrote Patozi.
The DC was registered at the Central Election Commission to participate in the June 30th race on the last day of the legal deadline.
Meanwhile, several local media pointed out how the Tirana Court took only five hours to register and legalize the freshly-founded party, although the legal procedure takes considerably longer.
The creation and operation of political parties are regulated by the Law on Political Parties, which sets out some conditions to be met and verified by the court before registering a party.
A request must be submitted to the Tirana Court for registration, which must be signed by at least three thousand individuals, founding members of the party; the adopted party statute; and the chairman of the party, who is its legal representative.
The documentation must be subject to judicial review, which, besides verifying the fulfillment of the above conditions, must also verify whether the statute and other party documents are in accordance with the Constitution and the Laws, within 30 days after the request is submitted.
Part of the examination should also be the verification of the existence and the signature of the 3,000 founding members. The law stipulates that for each founding member there should be shown name, surname, personal identification number and place of residence, for which it offers the court a month’s time.
In addition to these media reports, political experts in Albania have independently criticized this development, calling the creation of this party “an attempt to create a fake opposition” which doesn’t help the government, mor the bring a solution to the country’s deadlock.
On the same day, the DP and its allies signed an agreement, where last week’s decision no to participate in the local elections was reconfirmed.
According to the document, opposition parties “will be enrolled in elections only after the conditions for free and fair elections are created,” adding that “the only way to guarantee free and fair elections is the formation of a caretaker government which can prepare preliminary parliamentary elections,” but also “free and fair local elections.”
The opposition’s non negotiable condition is Rama’s resignation, whom it blames of capturing the state and heavy corruption.
Basha only gave a brief comment on the establishment of the DC
“The genesis of the evil we have found ourselves in is dictated by the crime. There will therefore be no more fake choices, no fake parliament, nor will there be more fake governments, there will be no fake justice and of course there will be no fake opposition,” Basha said.
In Albania, other than the Socialist Movement for Integration, which has been part of the political arena since 2005, all other parties which were formed as branches of big parties have failed.
