Basha makes it official he won’t seek reelection; Socialists and Democrats prepare candidate lists; Socialists enlarge coalition with Cham party
TIRANA, April 2 – The upcoming municipal elections are quickly moving to the top of the country’s political agenda, with several candidates and new political coalitions being announced this week.
Voters will elect 61 new mayors in administrative elections that will be a serious test for Albania’s governing leftist Socialist Party-led coalition as well as the main opposition Democratic Party and its leader, Lulzim Basha, the incumbent mayor of Tirana.
Basha had earlier indicated he won’t run again, and this week he made it official he won’t seek reelection in order to focus on party affairs.
“I have decided not to run for the Tirana mayor’s seat, but instead will lead the opposition in a race that touches every village, every neighborhood and every city,” Basha said. “I will lead the opposition in ousting the government. My race is against the prime minister.”
Basha had for years criticized Prime Minister Edi Rama for refusing to step down as Tirana mayor while seeking the prime minister’s seat.
Rama, who lost a tight race to Basha for the mayor’s seat in 2011, said Basha had done nothing to improve the lives of the city’s residents.
“Basha is leaving with nothing to show,” Rama said this week.
Prime Minister Rama has also been busy holding intensive talks to discuss on potentials candidates across the country.
The party had set almost all the names, most of whom are new arrivals, but the top post, that of the Tirana mayor candidate, remained up in the air.
The Democrats have been tight-lipped with their candidates, while Socialists have announced three names: Blendi Klosi, a lawmaker and former minister, Erjon Veliaj, minister of social affairs, and Pandeli Majko, former prime minister of Albania during the Kosovo war.
Veliaj is seen as the most loyal to the prime minister and is likely to be the ultimate candidate of the three. Majko would probably be far more popular with the average voter, according to analysts.
Rama has also extended his coalition with small political parties in order to gather more ballots for tight races.
The Socialists have entered into an agreement with the Democracy, Integration and Unity Party (PDIU) of the Cham community, led by Shpetim Idrizi, which has seven lawmakers. It ran in coalition with the opposition Democrats in the general elections.
The alliance has further shifted the weight of the coalitions in parliament, giving the governing Socialists a massive majority that allows them to make any constitutional changes if needed to implement its reforms in the justice system.
However, not all PDIU lawmakers were happy with the new alliance with the Socialists, particularly because of the presence in the coalition of another small party that represents the ethnic Greek community in Albania. The Cham community PDIU represents are Albanians who were brutally ethnically cleansed by Greek militias at the end of WWII.
Despite the new allies, Rama has to strongly rely on the coalition with the Socialist Movement for Integration of Ilir Meta, the second largest party in the ruling coalition.
