Open calls ask Rama to resign

TIRANA, July 21 – There are now open calls from senior opposition Socialist party officials at all levels that their leader, Edi Rama, should acknowledge the election results and resign from the post.
Ben Blushi, a lawmaker re-elected in the southeastern Korca district, and Arben Malaj, a lawmaker re-elected in the southwestern port city of Vlora, have been the two top officials to do so publicly.
Blushi said that Rama should acknowledge the loss and that elections were lost due to the wrong strategy of personalization of a common battle.
Based on the party’s statute Rama should offer his resignation, though it is not really clear what it means with a loss. One may think that now the Socialists have one-third more lawmakers than in the previous parliament. Is that a loss? They have more votes than four years ago. Is that a loss?
But others may say the Socialists cannot form the government and that means a loss. That is what Blushi and Malaj are saying, joined by some local leaders in northern Shkodra or southern Lushnja.
They insist that Rama should explain to the Socialists why they did not come to power as promised. He also turned down any idea of not recognizing the elections, as Rama has threatened unless all votes are counted. Blushi said in an interview to Panorama daily that any effort to leave the opposition out of the parliament would be a suicide.
Blushi also said that he had made the request for resignation to Rama himself.
Rama for his part is trying to remain calm saying that for the moment it is important that all votes are counted and the process should be transparent. He has said that the electoral process is out of the required standards and the opposition’s duty is to preserve the value of each vote.
He is not reacting to the calls for his resignation saying only that for the time being his job is to secure the votes.
But all such clashes also show the internal fight in a political grouping that did not win.
It has become clear that very likely Rama will resign. It is also known that the party’s leadership would not find it difficult to re-elect him in the post as many of them have been nominated by hi during the last four years.
Blushi and Malaj, at a television show at Ora News station, have also made known they will run for the post. But everyone knows they do not have the proper support among the party ranks. They should strive and do the same thing that Rama did four years ago going to each party cell around the country and also create their ‘favoring clan’ in the party’s leadership.
Some are also hinting that former party leader Fatos Nano is behind them.
Other senior or well-known personalities in the party ranks, like Servet Pellumbi, say that Rama was wrong to personalize the electoral campaign and also blame him for the lack of efforts to join the whole leftist coalition in the country to go to the vote jointly.
Others like Kastriot Islami in charge of the electoral system at the party try to sideline their blame. Islami said that the party lost not due to the complicated electoral system but due to the wrong political tactics and strategy, thus raising the finger toward Rama.
The one who better exploits it wins elections, said Islami, adding they had already won 10,000 more votes than the governing Democrats while in coalition they had 25,000 less than the Democrats.
Pellumbi said that it would be a hasty step if Rama would resign now and others rush to replace him. He said that Rama should likely resign at another time, after the election process is over, and then re-elected.