{"id":84758,"date":"2026-05-24T15:24:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T13:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/?p=84758"},"modified":"2026-05-24T21:25:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T19:25:37","slug":"berisha-after-re-election-as-head-of-the-democratic-party-democrats-defeated-the-most-dangerous-narco-mafia-in-europe-yesterday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/berisha-after-re-election-as-head-of-the-democratic-party-democrats-defeated-the-most-dangerous-narco-mafia-in-europe-yesterday\/","title":{"rendered":"Berisha After Re-Election as Head of the Democratic Party: Democrats Defeated the Most Dangerous Narco-Mafia in Europe Yesterday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"172\" data-end=\"477\">The leader of the Democratic Party, <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Sali Berisha<\/span><\/span>, after being re-elected as head of the party, published a lengthy message on his Facebook page, emphasizing that the vote of Democrats in yesterday\u2019s elections defeated what he described as the most dangerous narco-mafia in Europe.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"479\" data-end=\"953\">According to him, the vote of Democratic Party members became the trap where propaganda and the influence of the political mafia clashed with the free will of the membership. He stated that the participation of thousands of Democrats showed that, despite attacks and manipulation by political opponents and media close to the government, direct democracy remains the main force capable of challenging the control and fear that, according to Berisha, has gripped the country.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"955\" data-end=\"1256\">In his full statement, Berisha explained the different methods by which political party leaders are elected, emphasizing that the Democratic Party uses direct democracy through the principle of \u201cone member, one vote,\u201d which he described as one of the most democratic forms of political representation.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1258\" data-end=\"1671\">He contrasted this with the Socialist Party, which he referred to as a \u201cparty of crime,\u201d claiming that it has replaced members\u2019 voting rights with appointments and criminal influence. According to Berisha, the Socialist Party has not held leadership votes for 17 years, whereas the Democratic Party elects its chairman, local leaders, and parliamentary candidates through direct voting processes every four years.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1673\" data-end=\"2052\">Berisha further accused Prime Minister <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Edi Rama<\/span><\/span>, the government, controlled media outlets, and drug cartels of coordinating attacks against the Democratic Party and its leadership election process. He claimed they supported candidates linked to criminal groups and manipulated public opinion through media campaigns aimed at weakening the opposition.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2054\" data-end=\"2403\">According to Berisha, the government fears what he called a \u201creal opposition\u201d capable of overthrowing corrupt power structures and ending criminal influence in Albania. He also argued that the ruling authorities attempt to divert public attention away from issues such as alleged electoral manipulation, corruption, poverty, and rising living costs.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2405\" data-end=\"2580\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">He concluded by saying that the participation of around 40,000 Democratic Party members in the vote represented \u201ca triumph of dignity over the most dangerous mafia in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The leader of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, after being re-elected as head of the party, published a lengthy message on his Facebook page, emphasizing that the vote of Democrats in yesterday\u2019s elections defeated what he described as the most dangerous narco-mafia in Europe. According to him, the vote of Democratic Party members became the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":84759,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,1803],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Berisha After Re-Election as Head of the Democratic Party: Democrats Defeated the Most Dangerous Narco-Mafia in Europe Yesterday - Euronews Albania<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/berisha-after-re-election-as-head-of-the-democratic-party-democrats-defeated-the-most-dangerous-narco-mafia-in-europe-yesterday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Berisha After Re-Election as Head of the Democratic Party: Democrats Defeated the Most Dangerous Narco-Mafia in Europe Yesterday - Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The leader of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, after being re-elected as head of the party, published a lengthy message on his Facebook page, emphasizing that the vote of Democrats in yesterday\u2019s elections defeated what he described as the most dangerous narco-mafia in Europe. 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