TIRANA, July 23 – Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha has won a landslide election within the party to keep his seat as opposition leader a month after the DP suffered the worst defeat in its history in the general elections.
Basha received 91 percent among DP members that voted. His rival, Eduard Selami, managed to get about 9 percent of the vote.
However, the voting process took place during a tense climate within the party with many critics calling the election “a farce” and urging the party to postpone the polls and Basha not to run after the huge loss in the June 25 general elections.
According to official DP data, about 60,000 members, or 57.5 percent of the membership, participated in the elections. Compared to 2013, when Basha was first elected chairman, 20,000 more people voted, according to the official data released by the party.
Basha said the massive turnout was evidence of the Democrats’ confidence in their party and its democratic values.
“The vote of 60,000 Democrats confirmed that our cause — of free elections, the liberation of the country from corruption and drugs, the return of politics to citizens – is the right cause of our time,” Basha said in a statement.
Astrit Patozi, a former lawmaker and chief critic of Basha called the vote a “farce overcoming every imagination” in a statement on social media, alleging the vote had been rigged.
Selami congratulated his rival for the victory, and said he would work to strengthen and unite the Democratic Party.
