TIRANA, March 9 – The question of elections for party chairman in the Socialist Party in power since 2013 took a sudden twist this week with the Prime Minister and at the same time Socialist Party chairman admitting that the party statute had been violated in 2013 by not holding elections for the party chair.
Another surprise was Rama’s proposal for the holding of a referendum whether he should continue to remain party chair during the national assembly of the Socialist Party which precedes the party’s national congress.
The lack of internal democracy within the Socialist Party and the violation of the party statute by not holding elections for the party’s leader has been an issue which has been repeatedly brought up in recent weeks by Socialist MP Ben Blushi, a strong critic of Prime Minister Edi Rama, who has continuously pressed for holding elections for the party chair.
Rama and his supporters within the party have until now rejected the claims by saying that the party’s head is automatically reelected when the party wins the general elections following the model of UK’s Labour Party and this is the first time that Rama publicly admits that the party statute has been violated.
What started as the criticism of a ‘lone wolf’’, it has now turned into a movement within the Socialist Party with Ben Blushi and 7 other prominent Socialist figures unveiling their own platform regarding the party’s democratization.
Despite the mea culpa, Rama didn’t stop short of attacking Blushi and his supporters although no names were mentioned.
“The statute is just an alibi, but the real aim is to overthrow the government whose program is the one Albanians have voted for,” said Rama.
Rama also hinted that Blushi could be expelled from the party when he stated that “we cannot cohabit normally when we are split on facts, and not just opinions” referring to the criticism of government policies by the defiant Socialist MP Blushi.
Meanwhile, Blushi himself considered Rama’s proposal for a referendum as “an insanity.”
“It is the insanity of a man who wants to go to the polls without a candidate. He doesn’t want elections, but wants to hold a ballot without a candidate. Edi Rama versus Edi Rama himself. This cannot happen,” Blushi told reporters.
According to Blushi, there is only one way that the statute violation can be fixed and that’s holding a ballot.
“There is only one way this can be fixed and that’s holding elections for the party’s chair,” Blushi added.
While until now declarations between the two were made in the distance, tension between Rama and Blushi is simmering recently especially after an incident registered a few days ago during a local Socialist Party meeting in Elbasan, in which Blushi was jeered by a section of the crowd and had to be escorted outside for fear of his personal safety.
Blushi demanded that the party distances itself from the incident during a Socialist Party meeting behind closed doors, in which tones between Blushi and Rama were raised and the duo traded personal attacks, according to local media reports.
However, Rama disapproved of the incident saying before the national assembly that the boos against Blushi were unfair.
“In our midst you are listened and judged patiently unlike any other organization. The whistles were obviously rude. It would have been better if that didn’t happen, but none of this undermines the government’s achievements,” Rama said.
Besides Blushi, the “Movement for Democracy” which supports a more democratic party consists of two other MPs as well as former President Rexhep Mejdani among others.
However, it remains unclear what the movement represents or what its action plan is going to be.
