Ilir Alimehmeti, Gerti Bogdani or Belind Kelliçi?

These are the three candidates confirmed so far, among whom the Democrats will choose to challenge Erion Veliaj in the May 14 local elections.

But who are these three candidates and what do they represent?

Ilir Alimehmeti is an epidemiologist. Returning to Albania after specializations abroad, Alimehmeti has served in the healthcare system and also in the education system as a university lecturer.

Dr. Ali Mehmeti has been particularly vocal in following the problems of the pandemic, and its developments and has been a regular reporter of scientific news in the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For a year now, he has been a member of the Academy of Sciences. He started his involvement in politics mainly during the last year after the return of Sali Berisha as the head of the Democratic Party, after which he was elected as a member of the National Council.

Belind Kellici is an MP of the Democratic Party.

He returned to Albania in 2009 after studying management sciences in the USA. For several years, during DP’s government, Belind Kellici held low-profile positions in public administration.

In 2015, he was elected chairman of FRPD, which he led until the end of 2021. Elected MP in the elections of April 25, 2021, Belind Kellici has been a protagonist in several opposition causes of the Democratic Party in recent years, such as the one against incinerators, the protection of the national theater, and against concreting of the capital.

Gerti Bogdani is a former MP of the Democratic Party.

He studied in the US at New York Polytechnic University. Engaged in the Democratic Party after 2005, Bogdani ran and won in the 2007 local elections for the head of unit no. 10 in Tirana. 2 years later he took the leadership of FRPD, which he would hold until 2015. For two consecutive terms, 2009-2017, Gerti Bogdani has been an MP in the district of Tirana, while in recent years he has also held several leadership positions in the Democratic Party, as a member of the presidency and secretary for foreign relations.