TIRANA, Jan. 11 – The two factions vying for control of Albania’s main opposition Democratic Party have made it clear there won’t be any compromise, following violent clashes Saturday at the party’s headquarters.
In rival press conferences following the clashes, faction leaders Lulzim Basha and Sali Berisha said the other would have no future role in the party’s leadership.
Basha’s faction, which controls headquarters and has legal oversight over the party as the courts rule the other faction’s claims, went further on Tuesday expelling all leaders of the rival faction from the party and suspending several others among Berisha supporters. Those expelled include current members of Albania’s parliament and two former presidents of Albania.
The reaction from those expelled was uniform – Basha now leads an NGO, they said, and it is they who represent the real Democratic Party that has support among members and activists.
Basha said that former Prime Minister Berisha’s use of violence and destruction of the headquarters building has officially ended any association with the party. He added that Prime Minister “Edi Rama’s regime” is the one who benefits most from Berisha’s actions. “The Democratic Party will be rebuilt, and will return to majority, to power,” Basha said.
Berisha told the media in the courtyard of the DP headquarters the Basha faction was working with the government, and that the transition body Berisha leads represented the real opposition. “No one can stop our efforts against the destruction of political pluralism in Albania,” Berisha said.
Basha faction expels Berisha, ejects 10 MPs
Basha’s faction took measures against 28 members of the PD Rebuilding Commission, the transition body set up by the assembly convened on Dec. 11 by Berisha, to lead the party until the new elections, but which is not recognized by Basha and the institutions his faction holds.
In addition to Berisha, the immediate expulsion affects eight others, including former President Bujar Nishani or three MPs — Flamur Noka, Edmond Spaho and Albana Vokshi. Another 19 officials were given immediate suspension from membership as well as other functions in the party. In total, there are at least 10 MPs, who are now now longer considered representatives of the DP, according to Basha’s faction.
Some of the expelled or suspended MPs have reacted on social networks by saying the decisions are invalid, as they say Basha and the institutions he is using to make decisions are no longer valid due to the decisions of the Dec. 11 assembly.
“These are desperate actions coming from Basha, and I can’t understand why the insistence on this alternate reality, which is completely different from what DP members believe,” Luan Baci, one of the suspended MPs, told local media.
A divided party
Berisha and his supporters, which polls indicate make up a large portion, if not a majority of the party membership, are vying to officially take over the main opposition Democratic Party after Berisha was expelled by Basha from the parliamentary group due to Berisha’s public designation by the United States as inadmissible due “to significant corruption.”
Berisha supporters held an assembly on Dec. 11 and a membership vote that sacked incumbent Democratic Party leader Basha and replaced him with a transitory ruling body until leadership elections can be held in the spring.
On Jan. 8, DP headquarters turned into a battleground between supporters of Berisha and supporters and police protecting incumbent leader Basha, with calm returning and protesters dispersing after a massive police response.
Berisha supporters had called the protest to take over party headquarters after they held an assembly and vote in December to remove Basha from office. Basha and his supporters do not recognize the vote and the assembly held by Berisha supporters.
Berisha supporters tore through doors and broke windows shortly before the start of the official protest scheduled for noon after they were denied access to the building. They were met with iron-reinforced doors, then chemical irritants thrown by what appeared to be private security inside the building. An attempt by several people to climb the stairs to the second floor was met with Basha supporters who beat with clubs at least two men, leaving them bleeding, television footage showed.
Police then intervened in force, with massive amounts of tear gas, quickly pushing protesters out of the area.
