Albania’s ethnic Greek minority party stays left, Cams right

TIRANA, July 4 – The Union for Human Rights, PBDNJ, which represents the ethnic Greek minority in Albania, turned down any allegation that it could turn back to the governing coalition of Prime Minister Sali Berisha after the results of the June 28 parliamentary elections.
“We will not change our position,” said, the party boss Vangjel Dule, in a press conference. “Our trait has always been loyalty, integrity and coherence in decision-making,” he added.
PBDNJ has ruled with Berisha’s center-right government for the last four years but internal rifts before the elections pushed them towards a coalition with the Socialist Party headed by Tirana mayor Edi Rama.
The party made a poor showing in the elections, winning only one parliamentary mandate.
Unofficial results from Sunday’s poll show that the Democratic Party’s coalition, the “Alliance for Change” has so far won 70 seats in the 140-seat assembly, ahead of the Socialist coalition’s 66 deputies, which includes a deputy won by PBDNJ. In third place was the coalition headed by the Socialist Movement for Integration, LSI, with four deputies.
Such a decision is also likely linked with the fact that the Justice and Integration Party of the Cam community also earned a seat in the parliament. The Cams claim property in northern Greece after being deported by a Greek colonel at the end of World War II. Athens denies that, requesting them to make their claim in court.
The new member for the Cams came out and appealed to all the other Cam lawmakers aligning with other political parties to join the Cam party and raise the stake of Cam issues.