Local elections in Albania: Victory of the ruling Socialist Party - the collapse of the opposition and new political hopes

After more than three decades in the opposition, Shkoder became the city of the ruling Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama, which won power in 53 municipalities out of 61 in the local elections held last week in Albania. The opposition coalition "Together We Win" triumphed in seven municipalities, while in Himare, in the extreme south of the country, the local self-government will be formed by the Party of the Greek National Minority.

According to the announcement of the Central Election Commission, the turnout in the local elections was 38.22 percent; 1,595,360 voters took part in the elections, out of a total of 3,650,658 citizens of Albania with the right to vote.

The biggest surprise of the elections is certainly the "fall" of Shkoder. After almost 32 years of opposition rule, that city fell to the socialists. Albanian analysts believe that Shkoder, as a sort of right-wing bastion, has now become a myth.

"The difference of over 11,000 votes in favor of the Socialist Party surprised even that party, as well as the agencies that conducted public opinion polls. No one expected such a result. Everyone talked about an uncertain race in which the Socialist Party had a chance to win but did not with such a difference in votes. What happened showed very clearly that the people of Shkoder had a strong desire to rotate the government," Ardian Hoti, a professor and journalist from Shkoder, says for Kosovo Online.

He believes that, although the opposition gathered around the "Together We Win" coalition claims that there was vote buying and voter intimidation, i.e. pressures and blackmail by criminal groups, it was impossible to buy so many votes.

"In my opinion, what damaged the right wing in Shkoder are two names, Sali Berisha, who was declared by the US as 'persona non grata', and Ilir Meta. With the Berisha-Meta duo, with a past that is talked about a lot, the right-wing participated in the elections with “outdated ideas”, which no longer represented hope and inspiration for voters. With the idea that Shkodar is ours, the right wing, instead of appreciating it, neglected Shkoder, ran a very modest campaign, and did not offer any concrete projects. Suffice it to say that our projects are not approved by the government. Citizens have realized that they can no longer be held hostage by anyone," Hoti says.

He adds that on the other hand, the candidate of the Socialist Party in Shkoder, Benet Beci, in addition to the status of a highly respected person from a bourgeois family from Shkoder, had a campaign with specific offers for the city, thus presenting a series of projects.

He points out that now the left in Shkoder has a lot of work to do in order to show the citizens the difference.

"To somehow show the people of Shkoder that they wasted a lot of time by not voting for the Socialist Party, and on the other hand, to turn Shkoder into a regular voter of that party. Until yesterday, they were talking that they could not invest in Shkoder, because the municipality that is run by the Democratic Party didn't cooperate, now they have every opportunity to show the people of Shkoder whether they truly have the desire to rebuild Shkoder. Shkoder has done everything it can, now it's the Socialist Party's turn," Hoti concludes.

That Shkoder is an emblem of the loss of the opposition on a large scale, Gerta Zaimi, the chief and responsible editor of the Albanian Post portal, states for Kosovo Online. According to her, although the city was a stronghold of the right-wing, it does not mean that there was not a left-leaning electorate in it.

"Without a doubt, the left wing was present, but the anti-communist spirit above all made it a bastion of the right! I think that this time the choice of the voters was firstly a candidate, who actually does not come from the left and has an entrepreneurial program, and secondly the abandonment of the duet of Berisha and Meta, who was not an alternative to the current government, and thirdly they voted for pragmatism. Those three reasons will be a turning point for the city. The mayor, as a good entrepreneur, will find the right key for winning projects and the government will undoubtedly be more in tune with the locals and ready to welcome them, so I expect future investments in the city, both public and private," Zaimi says.

Commenting on the local elections as a whole, Zaimi assesses that the low turnout is a clear indicator of citizens' fatigue, especially of the right, indifference, and disappointment. She also states that the result achieved by the Socialist Party was beyond expectations.

"It should not be understood as a result of them being in power for 10 years, or maybe pushing their supporters to vote. They have created, with all possible defects and other various problems, livelier and restructured cities; they have benefited from tourism in which many tested themselves. While the right did not leave a good memory in city models, according to government criteria, in terms of honesty and transparency. So, between the two options, citizens chose the one they think is better for them. Of course, not forgetting the capacity of the voting machines, such as the socialists, and the support of pensioners. All this speaks of the need for a functional right-wing opposition, capable of dealing with the government and absolutely necessary for the quality of democracy in the country," Zaimi said.

When it comes to the opposition, Zaimi believes that the future of the country will depend on the direction in which political actors will act. She says that, after the defeat in the elections, now may be the right time for its reform, but also assesses that the opposition is not ready for it yet.

"Knowing Sali Berisha, as long as he has breaths, he will not leave that position," Zaimi says.

According to her words, faced with such a victory, with virtually no opposition, the Socialist Party risks relaxing.

"Surely this is a golden moment for it, the government, and for Albania in general. Now is the right time to carry out the necessary reforms for joining the EU. Not only with words or adapting the legislation to EU criteria but also with hard work in applying the law and implementing reforms," the editor of the Albanian Post concluded.

The election results of the newly founded "Together Movement", led by Arlind Qorri, will remain a curiosity of the local elections in Albania. The 41-year-old professor of the Faculty of Social Sciences has become a new "star" of the Albanian political scene. In his first political race for the mayor of Tirana, he won a significant number of votes and third place, i.e. more votes than the candidate of the "court-recognized" Democratic Party, Roland Bejko, who had the support of the American Embassy in Albania.

"We knew we had support and this result is in line with our expectations. We should be satisfied with our first participation in the political scene. We had no funds. My salary as a lecturer at the university was my main source of funding," Qorri told Kosovo Online.

He stated that his campaign had been aimed only at Tirana.

"We didn't even have the possibility to pay for fuel for the vehicles, in order to visit other cities in the country," Qorri said.

Qorri started to deal with politics in 2011, after on January 21 of the same year, in front of the seat of the Government of Albania, the Republican Guard killed four demonstrators during anti-government protests.

"After that event, I thought I should do something," Qorri told our portal.

The motto of the new option on the political scene of Albania is the support of workers according to the social-democratic Western model, but, as he stated, "they are in favor of the militant left". In this regard, they have already made contact with sister parties in Europe.