The leader of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, delivered his first public statement on Monday regarding the May 11 parliamentary elections, as the vote counting process continues with approximately 42% of ballots processed nationwide.

In a statement to the media, Berisha emphasized that every vote against the current regime holds special significance and called on Democrats at the counting centers to remain committed to the vote tallying process.

“I am here to express my gratitude to all the commissioners, observers, and counters who worked through the night counting citizens’ votes. I call on all PD structures to do everything possible to protect every vote—with the utmost dedication, because every vote against the regime deserves the highest respect and appreciation. My main purpose in appearing before you is to call on Democrats and opposition supporters to show the utmost seriousness in valuing every single vote and not to be influenced by anything. This is the most important duty for Democrats today,” Berisha declared.

He emphasized that the Democratic Party will give a full and clear position on the election process only after all the votes have been counted, but hinted that the process has not been fair, describing it as distorted by the “state-party.”

“Once again, the Democratic Party has shown Albanians and the world what the electoral process in Albania really is. Let there be no illusion that our conclusions were political. No, they were based on facts and have now been confirmed by international forums. Let us wait for the completion of the final vote count, and then the Democratic Party will make its full assessment.”

Furthermore, Berisha mentioned several practices which, according to him, negatively impacted the fairness of the electoral race, accusing the government of using state resources for electoral gain.

“If 760,000 gifts are handed out in exchange for votes, if tens of thousands of hectares of cannabis are planted for votes, if tens of thousands are employed for votes, if you saw polling stations surrounded by party monitors and illegal PS offices set up near voting centers, if you saw fines of around 150 million euros pardoned two nights before the vote—then you can name these elections yourselves. But that is not why I’m here today. I am here to call on Democrats to count every vote,” Berisha concluded.