TIRANA, May 23, 2022 – Sali Berisha has returned at the helm of Albania’s main opposition Democratic Party, following an election for the chairmanship organized by the party’s transition ruling body, the Re-Establishment Committee.
There was largely no contest as no other viable candidate stood in the election. Nearly 41,000 party members voted for Berisha, according to the official results. The only other candidate was Ibsen Elezi, who received 5.8 percent of the vote.
“The mission is to save Albania from a regime that never deserved power,” Berisha said in his victory speech. “Everything has to be done to make the dreams of young people come true in this country.”
Berisha’s comeback as party chairman after nine years follows a long campaign that went from meetings across the country to an attempt to take the party headquarters by force to a court ruling that officially recognized the part of the party he leads as legitimate, after a congress it organized changed the party statue and expelled the previous leadership.
The fact that Berisha commanded the majority of DP supporters became clear in the local by-elections held in March, when candidates nominated by his supporters strongly outvoted official DP candidates.
Berisha tried but failed to unite all party officials behind him, and a portion of the parliamentary group, including its leader, Enkelejd Alibeaj, refused to recognize Berisha’s authority. That group is now acting independently in parliament and in negotiations with the ruling Socialist Party and international representatives.
Berisha’s public designation on corruption by the United States was the genesis of a division in DP, with former chairman Lulzim Basha expelling Berisha from the parliamentary group. U.S. representatives have said they won’t meet with Berisha or deal with a DP lead by him.
Berisha denies all accusations of corruption and has urged the Americans to provide any proof they might have.
Berisha has dominated Albanian politics in one way or another since 1991. He was one of the center-right DP’s co-founders and quickly took over as chairman. DP was the first opposition party in Albania following the end of the communist regime. He served as chairman 1991-1992 and 1997-2013. The break was when he served as Albania’s president from 1992 to 1997. He then became prime minister in 2005. He resigned in 2013 when he lost elections after 8 years in power.
