Sali Berisha, former Albanian premier and one of the founders of the Democratic Party, has gathered 4,200 signatures, a figure sufficient in order for the National Assembly of the party to convene.

One of its members, Çlirim Gjata, admitted to Euronews Albania that he is among the delegates who signed in favor.

Among the main reasons he listed is to counter a potential agreement with PM Edi Rama on amending the Constitution, claiming that every time the DP has come to terms with the executive it has fallen victim to his manipulations.

“We have signed three agreements with Edi Rama. He lied to us about the forty laws, he has been severely mocking us in Parliament. We had another agreement on May 17, and then the other agreement on June 5 at the US Embassy. He changed the Constitution after the agreement”, Gjata said.

He also was against the move to vet politicians, proposed by DP’s leader Lulzim Basha, as according to him the process will be delegated to SPAK, an “institution that has been seized by Rama”.

The Socialist Party is looking to extend the mandate of the bodies that are carrying the vetting process in the justice system, something that the Democratic Party has not opposed, although demanding three other reforms, namely, vetting politicians, and the electoral and territorial reforms.

Çlirim Gjata sees this as problematic.

According to him, at the moment, it is imperative to restructure the Democratic Party, or else he fears that it “will never come to power”.

“Will the DP be preserved as the first party that toppled communism, or are we going to allow some statutory loopholes to dissolve the party?” he said.

Accordingly, if one-fourth of delegates sign in favor of convening the National Assembly, then it should be allowed.

“If there is such a large undertaking, then Lulzim Basha cannot impede that”, he concluded.