Ethnic Greek minority party stands along with the opposition

TIRANA, Sep 8 – The Human Rights Union Party (HRUP) has only one lawmaker in the new parliament, unlike past times when it had more than that. But it still is a political force -always under the attention of the two main political coalitions who are always thinking it has the strong support from Athens, a neighboring country.
This time the HRUP decided before the start of the electoral campaign they would join the opposition Socialist coalition for the June 28 parliamentary poll.
They had already a minister in the Democratic Party’s government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha but did not agree to continue cooperation with the centre-right grouping.
That move also sparked friction among the top leaders of the small ethnic Greek political grouping, with some of them unilaterally joining forces with the Democrats and two of them have become lawmakers under that party’s affiliation.
It has been heard during the last days, also directly from Berisha’s mouth, that there could be an invitation for the HRUP to join the new cabinet.
Trying to show that the HRUP continues to stay alongside the opposition Socialists, the top leader, Vangjel Dule came out Monday to say they would continue to remain with the Socialist-led coalition.
But unlike the Socialists who boycotted the opening session of the new parliament Dule himself attended, also denouncing the boycotting as a backward stand.
He said that only through the participation at the parliament could the situation improve.
Dule also repeated the criticism of the electoral code as the source of such results for the party and the opposition.