The statute of the Democratic Party states that the candidates of this political force in the general and local elections will have to go through a primaries process, where party members vote.

But when we are about 4 months before the date of the general elections, in the Democratic Party there is still no signal for the development of this process.

In several different appearances for the media, when the chief democrat, Sali Berisha, was asked about the primaries, he stated that they will be held, but without giving details of when or how they will be held in the short time available until May 11.

Until now, in these last 20 years, the Democratic Party has conducted the primary process twice to produce candidates for deputies and mayors.

For the first time, for the April 25, 2021 election, the primaries process was a negative vote for the least popular candidates running for parliament and took place in the fall of 2020.

While the second time, which also coincides with the era of Sali Berisha’s return to the head of the Democratic Party, the primaries for the mayoral candidates took place at the end of November – the beginning of December 2022, almost 6 months before the election date of May 14, 2023.

The statutory determinations and the will of Sali Berisha for the primaries are unchanged, but what is not in the DP’s favor for this process, is the time, but also the great risk that through such a process, the Democratic Party will reopen the wounds that are still unsettled by the 2-year conflict that led to the departure of Lulzim Basha and some of his supporters.