Arben Imami, one of the founding fathers of the Albanian Democratic Party, sees the recent developments in the DP as “positive”. In an interview on Now with Erla Mehilli he said that Lulzim Basha is no longer the “de facto” nor “de jure” leader after what happened at the Assembly called by Sali Berisha.

“In 2018, I asked Berisha to come back and take over the DP as I was confident that his role in the DP is unfathomable”, he said.

The former defense minister said that only a few thought that the movement could have reached so far, referring to Berisha’s assembly as “impressive”.

Imami said that the Assembly succeeded in fulfilling all expectations that Democrats had, adding that Berisha still has broad support as “the historic leader of the Democratic Party”, but also because of Basha’s numerous failures.

According to him, Basha’s claims that his decisions were affected by Berisha are “baseless”.

“He was under the shadow because of his mediocrity, but that is Berisha’s fault for appointing to the party’s chairmanship. He failed completely in everything”, said Imami.

He also added that Berisha has been able to restore hope not only among Democrats but also others who are disappointed by Rama.

“FBI has something on Basha, but it’s hiding it for some reason”

The former defense minister maintained that the FBI has a case on Lulzim Basha but it’s not following the same standards of justice for “some reason”.

“This man has an open case in the United States. He sent $1 million USD there, it’s a public fact. Nick Muzini’s contracts showing that he received the money have been published. Muzini’s deposition is sitting in a drawer in Tirana and this shows that justice doesn’t have both eyes shut, but it does act on some people, but not for others”, said Imami.