Lawyer Kreshnik Spahiu said in an interview for Euronews Albania that it was strange how the primaries were being considered a novelty.

“Unlike many others, I do not see the primaries as an innovation that happens for the first time in Albania, and sometimes I am surprised that the democrats themselves are articulating it as an innovation that happens for the first time,” Spahiu said.

He added that the primaries also happened in 1998 when Edi Rama ran for the first time and entered politics and in an electoral race and in front of him the Democrats held primaries with 4 candidates.

Besnik Mustafaj, Spartak Ngjela, Bamir Topi and Buron Kaceli were the four well-known intellectuals of the right, according to Spahiu who ran in these primaries. “It was a novelty for that period, but it caused the defeat of the Democrats,” added the lawyer.