Berisha faints while giving speech

TIRANA, Dec. 14 – Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha became dizzy while making a speech but was not seriously ill.
Berisha was taken away by his bodyguards following the fainting Monday evening during a meeting with supporters of his governing Democratic Party celebrating the 21st anniversary of the party in the capital Tirana on Monday.
The hall fell silent and the incident practically spoiled the activity. The Democratic Party was founded 21 years ago just a day after the then-running communist parliament declared political pluralism legal following a student protest.
A medical consultation showed normal parameters and a stabilized situation, the press office said later.
67-year-old Berisha was taken to his apartment and was feeling well afterwards.
Berisha also canceled a trip to Montenegro which he had planned for Tuesday. On Wednesday he met with Montenegrin Foreign Minister Milan Rocen and both repeated that Berisha would soon make the visit to neighboring Montenegro.
Perhaps not surprisingly, even Berisha’s small incident turned into a political issue.
It was noted that the Democrats’ newspaper spoke harshly against an alleged ‘satisfaction’ from political opponents. It wrote aggressively against the opposition leader the next day, though not mentioning him by name.
But surprisingly or not, Edi Rama did not behave like that. He sent his support and wished well to Berisha through a message he wrote on Twitter.
Berisha, has been the prime minister since 2005 and is now in his second term– following a term as president in the 1990s after the fall of the communist regime.