Prime Minister Edi Rama was in Saranda this Sunday for the closing campaign rally, where he took aim at small and newly formed parties, calling them “the second cycle of the bad seed of the late LSI.”

“They’re like little birds flying around saying, ‘we’re new.’ The only thing new about them is the age of their leaders. Small parties serve small interests—the smaller the party, the smaller the interests of those who sell themselves as representatives of big causes. Don’t water the weeds, because they’ll grow. Imagine, without even being in Parliament, they’re already calling for early elections—for the same reasons the late LSI was created: shady deals and personal interests,” Rama said.

He called on citizens to support the Socialist Party in the May 11 elections, arguing that only the SP has consistently defended the national interest.

Referring to the party’s history, he added: “The Socialist Party may have made mistakes in the past 35 years, but there is not a single moment when it betrayed the national interest. Not one. Zero.”

Rama emphasized that the May 11 elections are more than just a political process, describing them as the “fulfillment of a historic mission” for Albania’s integration into the European Union.