Political tête-à-tête between two main politicians

TIRANA, July 28 – Prime Minister Sali Berisha, leader of the governing Democratic party, and main opposition Socialist Party leader, Edi Rama, who is also Tirana’s mayor, have been involved in a personal and political fight, complete with accusations and considerable irony since last week. It started after Berisha quarreled, publicly using obscene language, with a Socialist lawmaker. Rama said that made clear to the voters that Berisha had to be removed from his post as he was a threat to every individual in the country. Berisha, on his side, directly blamed Rama for instigating the incident and provoking him using two of his lawmakers and called him a mayor by correspondence, that is, only formally but not practically running Tirana city hall.
The end of this week’s parliamentary session was not much different from what it has been during the post-communist period with opposing politicians calling each other names and conducting little state business. At a time when the country seeks some good news on any possible effort to lower retail prices and make the life of poor Albanians easier, when the international community expects Albania, at last, to hold professionally organized elections next year, when Albania expects to become a full NATO member next year, the two opposing political forces are involved in a fight defending the personality of their leaders. (Tirana Times Staff)