The leader of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, is participating in the proceedings of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, held in Porto, Portugal.
In his address today before the Assembly, Berisha emphasized the urgent need for Albania to restore the institution of free elections, describing the May 11 elections as an electoral farce reminiscent of a dictatorship.
“Drug cartels in Albania are directly linked to the government and are extremely powerful: the Troplini/Poja cartel controls the Port of Durrës, the largest port in the country and in the region. The Çela cartel of Elbasan controls the heroin trafficking highway from the East. These cartels are so powerful that they appoint ministers, judges, prosecutors, police chiefs, MPs, etc.
This was the situation in which we entered the May 11 elections.
In addition, in this electoral year, the narco-dictator Edi Rama, in his attempt to secure a fourth term, decided to arrest the two main opposition leaders (Sali Berisha and Ilir Meta) and open a criminal case against Fatmir Mediu, the leader of the third opposition force — all without any formal charges. He also ordered the arrest of opposition mayors and MPs,” Berisha said.
“In the past, we had the harshest dictatorship — a Stalinist regime unlike any other.
In these elections, it is true that there were candidates from different political parties. But on the other hand, all the state’s capacities and resources were used as electoral instruments by the state-party.
Why am I here today? We have already spoken at the Council of Europe and the European Parliament. But we believe the OSCE was founded on the promise and obligation of its member states to uphold citizens’ right to vote and to ensure free and fair elections, in line with the principles and standards set out in the Copenhagen Document and other conventions.
We have full confidence that this institution, within its mission, will support the holding of free and fair elections and the creation of an environment where every party competes on equal terms, with free media, voting without intimidation, and where every citizen has the opportunity to make a free and informed choice of candidates, as highlighted in the Copenhagen Document and in the preliminary reports by ODIHR, OSCE, the European Parliament and PACE.
I believe our situation is a unique one.
I have only one request: help my nation vote freely.
Without a technical government, Albanians will not have the opportunity to hold free and fair elections.
Therefore, today, on behalf of the Albanian opposition, I call on this honorable institution:
– First, to support the preliminary ODIHR report (Everything I have mentioned is written in that preliminary ODIHR report).
– Second, I urge international institutions to follow up on the recommendations written in recent OSCE-ODIHR reports, which for years have remained unimplemented due to the lack of political will from the narco-government.
This is of extraordinary importance and vital for my country, which is in a very difficult moment,” Berisha concluded.
