The results of the 31 March elections are the first victory of Albanian democracy. Democracy, imprisoned for 46 years, cannot win definitively within three months. Any other assessment has been a wish, an illusion, a product of euphoria. The first victory of democracy, as a victory for the whole people, was achieved by the Democratic Party, the strongest opposition force. We welcome it also as a victory for the Republican Party. We have made our contribution to this: supporters of the Republican Party judged that it was in the interests of the opposition as a whole to vote for the Democratic Party. And that is what they did. The results of 31 March turned the hope for democracy into an indisputable reality, into a firm conviction that democracy will also win the battles to come. The monist system was brought down, not by decrees and initiatives of the PPSH, but by the people’s unbreakable will. It was proved that the most progressive forces are for democracy. It was proved that neither psychological pressure, nor economic deception, nor the threat of force are as all-powerful as they were for nearly 46 years. And these are no small things. But could more have been achieved? The main opposition forces have around 450,000 votes. The PPSH in power has 450,000. When the opposition forces had only just begun to emerge, the PPSH had a party organization in every village, every enterprise and institution, every neighbourhood, and a commissar in every military unit. In this electoral struggle for democracy, the opposition had only its mind and heart, its conviction in what it said, and its hope for victory. The PPSH had (and still has) a gigantic apparatus for our small country, both party and state, which made extensive use of both the school and the “carrot”—that is, both threats and electoral “carrot-and-stick” tactics. They slandered the opposition, saying that if it won, it would kill the communists. They threatened: “We took power with blood, and with blood we will give it up.” But now is not the time to go into the details of the electoral techniques used by the PPSH. In a family, a child may stop crying if given a caramel or frightened. In the case of a sixty-one-year-old who lacks the ability to analyse the content of facts and information, they were also politically disciplined with both school and “carrot.” However laughable these people may be, they are real votes for the PPSH that it will not have in the coming elections to the Assembly or in local-government elections. And the PPSH has only real votes because it alone had the means to manipulate them. At this difficult time, various factors greatly influenced the balance of forces in the election results. Therefore, at the polling stations, democracy achieved its first victory, even though we Republicans did not win a place in the new Assembly. Its allies did. The law is in their hands. The deep poverty that has overwhelmed us does not come from the fact that this country lacks wealth, land and sufficient resources, but because it has been governed badly, brutally. We say that we can stand proudly on our feet, having reached the bottom, and set out on the road that truly leads us towards Europe. For its part, Europe and the USA must understand that today, after the elections, the fate of our country is at stake. Albania needs real assistance so that it can be saved and develop a healthy democracy. It is time: the PPSH informed us that so many ships carrying wheat had arrived, enough to last until the new harvest. But what will happen after the harvest, when we do not know what the sowings amount to, when the wheat is not receiving the necessary care, when some farmers have been given the cows from the cooperative barns in exchange for votes and have been allowed to graze them on the cooperative’s stony land? The Republican Party considers it its essential duty to call on everyone to demand more, because the bitter fruits of the harvest will not be eaten by the PPSH leadership, which is responsible for the state to which it has reduced the economy, but by the entire people. We repeat: the PPSH will not be able to solve the difficult economic problems through party-directed measures, all the more so because the 31 March elections have made us wonder in whose hands this baton now lies. We must never forget the slogan “the building of socialism with our own forces.” Domestically, under conditions in which extremist, schismatic forces are becoming more clearly defined and carry the risk of open confrontation, the Republican Party, although it has no place in the Assembly, feels it has a duty to raise the question of electing a president by popular referendum. By virtue of his authority and by rising above the parties, he could maintain the political balance in defence of the people and the country. Under the normal conditions of the new pluralist system, peace and order, and the rule of law, the Republican Party will work to resolve a number of matters within its own ranks and to organize itself fully throughout the country. It is increasingly gaining the respect of the masses through its mature judgement on the problems that have troubled the country, its concrete actions, and its better party programme. Democracy has begun its unstoppable march. The Republican Party will take part in this march with determination, dignity and honesty, with the sole purpose of serving the interests of the people and the sole ambition of serving the interests of the Fatherland.

The Central Election Commission for deputies to the People’s Assembly announced that, for the elections of 31 March 1991, 1,975,176 voters were registered at 5,480 polling stations. A total of 1,956,139 voters took part in the voting, equal to 98.92 percent of them. In electoral zone 166 of the district of Pogradec, since only one candidate remained, voting will take place on 7 April 1991. The Labor Party won in 162 zones, equal to 64.8 percent of the 250 electoral zones (in 19 zones the PPSH had joint candidates with its levers: the Democratic Front, the Youth Union and the Women’s Union). The Democratic Party won in 65 zones, equal to 26 percent of the 250 electoral zones. The “OMONIA” organization won in 3 zones. The Veterans’ Committee won in 1 zone. In the second round, 34 candidates will compete, of whom 17 are from the PPSH and its levers, 16 from the Democratic Party and 1 from the “Omonia” organization. There will also be another election in zone 142, since the Democratic Party candidate received 31.6 percent of the votes.

(REPORTAGE ON THE EVENTS IN SHKODËR) At the press center we learned that something had happened in Shkodër. We set off urgently together with two Italian journalists, Florido Borziki and Antonio Skuro, as well as a Brazilian, Mark Antonio Rezidente. On the way we passed a long convoy of 12 vehicles packed with members of the special armed forces, unit 326. As soon as we entered the Bahçallëk bridge, we heard gunshots. On the street, a large crowd of people below learned that we were journalists. They immediately ushered us into the home of a man who had been killed. We could barely get through to the dead man because the apartment-building stairs and the inside of the apartment were full of people. Amid the people, we could make out the lifeless body of 24-year-old Arben Broci. He was one of those thirty students who met with Ramiz Alia last December as part of the student movement. His mother, Lija, stroked the corpse’s forehead and still could not believe the news of his death. The wounds could not be seen on the body lying there, because the bullet had struck him in the back. People there said that Arben had been shot by a sniper from the terrace of the Labor Party Committee. How had he been killed?! After managing cleverly to switch [his course] at the University, where he was in his fifth year of engineering, he had started work at the cigarette factory in Shkodër. In this way he wanted to help his family, which was in financial difficulty, especially after his father’s death two years earlier. On Monday, after the communists’ victory became known, people took to the streets. Shkodër had voted about 90 percent for the DP, and naturally saw the communists’ victories as a misfortune. Before the elections, they did not believe the communists would win. They also talked about manipulations that had taken place there. They kept saying: “Democracy must not be equated with ignoramuses.” (With this slogan they were attacking those who had decreed the communist members.) On Monday at 2:00 the demonstration had begun. As people gathered, they shouted, “Fraudsters, fraudsters!” while surrounding the District Party Committee. Arben was at the head of the crowd at that time. According to many people we met, he was urging them to remain calm. [Unclear in source: «Vetëm për gazetës».] On Tuesday morning it was the same. The crowd had come out into the square to demonstrate. At the front were students from the secondary schools “29 Nëntori” and “Jordan Misja.” While Arben was calling for peace and urging people to avoid violence, at 8:45 he was shot in the back by the public-order police. Bujar Bisbanaku and Bensik Çeka were left dead in the square soon afterwards. They, too, were very young. Then the crowd was gripped by bloodlust. It began to burn the Party Committee from top to bottom. Meanwhile, reinforcements began arriving: military troops, vehicles, tanks and armoured cars, which were intended to disperse the demonstrators. Faced with force, the people of Shkodër responded with force. These were horrifying scenes whose scale brought to mind the brink of civil war. As a result of this action, 58 demonstrators were severely wounded, of whom only some managed to get to hospital. All these events, which happened rapidly, further worsened the situation. Then the enraged citizens set fire to two tanks and immediately erected barricades. Their powerful resistance forced the police forces and the military armoured units to retreat. All that remained of the turmoil was [unclear in source: «kuj-r[r]je të votoni për kandidatët e Partisë Demokratike dhe kandidatin e “Omonias”!»] This was an event that, in fact, cannot be described and then used to celebrate elections in this way. What good are bloodbaths now?!—the citizens of Shkodër ask, and answer themselves. Meanwhile, in Parruca Square, two tanks and a military vehicle continue to burn. When the many shaken citizens first saw the foreign journalists, they came up to them, saying: “Italians?! Oh, at last, welcome!” Do you see what is happening?! They are killing us all. Do something for us, because we want world public opinion to be properly informed. After saying this, everyone wanted to speak, to vent their anger; someone was crying, and another even showed us large quantities of ammunition for machine guns and Kalashnikovs. Some in the crowd were also irritated with the RAI-1 correspondent, who, in an interview with our television about the elections, had said: “With these elections Albania has chosen the path of reform without adventure.” “What kind of journalist is this?” they shouted indignantly. “We have particular respect for Italian journalists, for their seriousness and professional abilities. But this man is not one of them, as he sees Shkodër only from Hotel ‘Dajti’. From there it really did look nice and beautiful.” The journalists understood that their opinion was not just for show. I knew this beforehand, having also spoken with them in the cafés. They were indignant at the journalists who gave baseless and excessively hasty assessments. “Journalists like that,” they said, “bring shame on all of us who have come to write and to report everything that is happening here realistically and sincerely.” Then people gather around us (continued on page 4).

THANKS The Council of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Tirana, the clergy and the Orthodox faithful warmly thank, on behalf of the mother, the world humanitarian and Nobel Prize supporter, Mother Teresa, for her visit on 23.3.1991. We wish her health and long life. COUNCIL OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH, TIRANA The Orthodox Committee of the Cathedral Church of St. Vangjelizmoji in Tirana invites the faithful to a religious ceremony on Palm Sunday; In Lushnjë, during March, the town mosque was opened, while in Durrës the Great Mosque was opened. In Gjirokastër, in the village of Dervican in Dropull, the church of the Greek minority, which opened two months ago, continues its activities. However, the opening of the Albanian Metropolitan Church in the city of Gjirokastër is being obstructed. Correspondent of “Republika”

On 2 April, at the Italian embassy, at their request, a meeting was held between Italian senators Domeniko Amalfitano, Antonio Gracilani, Xhovana B[o]lekjo Skoloto, senior officials of Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister Pietro Agu and Sabri Godo, chairman of the Initiative Committee of the Republican Party. On 2 April, at the Italian embassy, at their request, a meeting was held between Italian senators Domeniko Amalfitano, Antonio Gracilani, Xhovana Bolekjo Skoloto, senior officials of Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister Pietro Agu and Sabri Godo, chairman of the Initiative Committee of the Republican Party, to discuss the election results and political developments between the two countries. We reiterated our request that Europe urgently sell Albania its large food surpluses at low prices and on long-term credit, while also supplying it with all the raw materials for light industry. Correspondent of “Republika”

Members and supporters of the Albanian Republican Party! In the second round of voting, 34 candidates will compete, of whom 17 are from the PPSH and its levers, 16 from the DP and 1 from the “Omonia” organization. Further elections will be held in zone 142, since the DP candidate received only 31.6 percent of the votes. The Republican Party calls on you to vote for the candidates of the Democratic Party and the candidate of “Omonia”! INITIATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE PRSH

I can call the actions of our information media nothing other than astonishing, primarily those of RTSH and ATSH, in connection with communicating the election results, whether partial or “provisional.” It is astonishing that RAI (Italian radio and television) began broadcasting reports from its correspondents in Tirana on the night of 1 April and continued hour after hour throughout 1 and 2 April, while RTSH remained silent and, when we (continued on page 4)