TIRANA, Jan. 22 – Ben Blushi, former Socialist Party MP, head of the Libra political party since 2016, journalist and writer, quit politics this weekend through a social media statement.
The statement was explanatory of Blushi’s decision, who founded Libra after storming out of the Socialist Party two years ago for all those who had been disappointed by all political parties that failed to keep their promises.
“Despite the human passion invested in it, Libra did not succeed in convincing people to detach themselves from the shop, from ugliness and violence, from the meanness and meaninglessness of old parties,” the statement read.
He proceeded to state the last elections were disappointing to him, as the majority “proudly elected thieves and bandits.”
According to Blushi, Libra is one of the few “clean” parties in Albania, related to no criminal or corruption activity and that despite finishing off last elections fifth, it was the first in terms of justice and dignity.
Adding he never meant for Libra to be his personal party, but that of the people, Blushi’s conclusions on the current political scene of Albania were pessimistic.
“Albanians don’t want the opposition. They trust the past more than the future. The old calms them, the new worries them.They want to be the strongest, but not the justest, thinking that being strong is just and that whatever is just is always weak. I understand this habit, but I don’t support it,” he concluded.
Blushi first established Libra with a fellow Socialist MP who also quit the party – Mimoza Hafizi. At the time, he said Libra stands for the Equal List (Lista e Barabartà«, in Albanian), and as a union of people with progressive ideas who are passionate about their line of work.
The party was conceived to provide a new challenge to the mainstream political subjects, and particularly to the government of Edi Rama who had been at the center of accusations for its unfulfilled promises, lack of strategic vision, ever closer links with criminal circles and bankruptcy according to the opposition since 2016.
Moreover, Blushi had pledged for Libra to be an advocate for all of those Albanian citizens that have been forced to leave the country as a result of unemployment, chronic injustice and excruciating inequality.
“Libra will be an instrument to protect Albania and its nature from abuse, pollution and exploitation, as well as waste imports,” Blushi said two years ago.
However, Blushi’s party did not manage to decisively contribute to Albania’s politics.
Since 1991, the Albanian political scene has been dominated by two political parties: the centre right Democratic Party of Albania (DP) and the centre left Socialist Party of Albania (SP).
For the last 26 years, the country has been run between the two, until a political spat led to the birth of Socialist Movement for Integration as a splinter group of the Socialist Party of Albania.
In the 2013 parliamentary elections the Socialist Party, headed by Rama, promised a renaissance of the country and formed a coalition government with the Socialist Movement of Integration Party (SMI) winning 81 out of 140 seats in the parliamentary assembly.
The three parties have been embroiled in a vicious circle of endemic corruption, according to those who want to change the system, including Blushi.
