In his address at the National Assembly, the leader of the Democratic Party Lulzim Basha said that delegates will use their vote to determine the future of the party.

“The essence of our choice will be decisive for Albania’s future”, said Basha, adding that the collaborators of the Communist regime will be punished.

Basha also warned that “anyone tied to a communist past will be barred from the party’s structures”.

He added that the same rule will apply to people who are allegedly involved in criminal activities spanning the past 30 years.

He also said that people that are a threat to the pro-Western orientation and regional stability will not be allowed to rule the party.

“We’re the party that proposed to decriminalize politics, and lastly on vetting politicians. We will remove from our ranks those who want to challenge the United States for their own personal interests”, Basha said.

The head of Albania’s largest opposition party said that the country is seized by a corrupted government that enacts laws that favor a few on the back of its citizens.

“Albania is a captured state that suffers from a lack of economic freedom. Albania has more Council of Ministers acts accorded to 6 oligarchs than for the entire population. A seized state is the largest act of corruption in the history of a country as it shifts the will the electorate towards the hands of 10 people that rule the prime minister”, added Basha.

“Can’t win with a persona non-grata among our ranks”

Lulzim Basha reiterated that the Democratic Party cannot come to power if it has a persona non-grata among its ranks.

“This Assembly should serve to bring us closer to pro-Americanism and Euro-Atlanticism after a long period of misunderstandings, quarrels and ambiguity with our strategic ally, which peaked with the removal of the former leader from DP’s parliamentary group”, stated Basha.

He emphasized that the Democratic Party is “nobody’s personal property” but it “belongs to Democrats, Albanians and the Nation”.

“This extraordinary Assembly convened to decide once and for all. Will we choose the future? Are we going to take off our shoulders the three-decade-old cast of the individual rule which has taken Democracy hostage in the name of power and dizzying wealth accumulated through criminal activities and the yoke of impunity to perpetuate the power of a few”?