Four times more than in the July 26 elections Today, in the press conference hall at the International Center of Culture, Republican Party chairman Sabri Godo will hold a press conference. The Republican Party took part in the elections in the municipalities of Zall-Herr, Reç, Ngrecan and Greshicë. The elections must be held again in Greshicë, where serious irregularities were confirmed, including the breaking open of the ballot box. In the first three municipalities, out of 448 valid votes, the Republican Party received 12.2%. In these elections we competed under unfavorable conditions. We put forward a candidate late and with difficulty, with our program in hand, and our only promise was fair and capable governance if our candidate won. But even though we presented ourselves as a party that would not perform miracles in the municipality, the electorate gave us 12.2%. Of course, had we begun paving the roads of Ngrecan and Zall-Herr, secretly brought the water pipes and pumps to Reç at night, installed transformers in Greshicë, and distributed aid to every home, we might have achieved a higher percentage, because voters are not unmoved when you provide in a few days some of the things they have suffered without for years. But we value the result we achieved, because it is entirely clean; we do not wreck people’s homes. Nevertheless, these elections established the Republican Party as a rapidly growing political force. It may seem a little exaggerated to make such statements on the basis of elections in three municipalities. But in Luzni of Dibër and Zergjan of Bulqizë, we received 17.8 and 24% of the vote, respectively. The two polls together raised the Republican Party to 18%. So we can say with greater confidence that, thanks to our program and the policy we have pursued, in a little over 22 months our electorate has grown more than fourfold. In commenting on these results, we wish to draw the public’s attention to an important reality. We believe that it can no longer be said, “the Democratic Party, the Socialist Party and the other parties.” Alongside the two major parties that have dominated the country’s political life, the Republican Party is also entering the scene, with its clear right-wing orientation, in defense of the nation, private property and the free market. This growth is a good thing for the Republican Party, which sees the beginning of the realization of [text unclear] and the Government. However well a government may try to do its job, it can never be the best for the people as long as it has the right to make any decision without fearing any opposition. Albanian democrats and patriots must wisely accept the need for changes in political and economic leadership, especially when the danger of renewed communism is knocking at the door. The progress of the Republican Party and the overall progress of right-wing forces will bring about the change that is needed. This can happen only through free elections, which must be beyond any doubt. A primitive savagery is evident in the elections. What does “win at any cost,” as some leaders declared in the recent elections, mean? It means winning without regard to any conditions, and without recognizing laws or rules. People with such views are dissatisfied and dangerous enemies of democracy. Let us ask ourselves: are we in favor of the rule of the party over the people? If so, any discussion would be superfluous. In just five municipalities, several commission members were bloodied and some MPs also got into physical fights. Will a world war be declared when we hold general elections? The Republican Party calls on the other parties to abandon the madness of victories at any cost; otherwise, the country will head toward confrontation and [text unclear]. The elections in Greshicë must be repeated, and the candidate for municipal chairman whom the voters of Greshicë want must win. Whoever is accustomed to winning must also know how to lose, because that helps them win the next battle.

Whoever causes this, even in part, will take upon themselves a very heavy burden. We must also remember that we are under the watch of the free world, and especially under the watch of Serbia and certain powerful Greek circles pursuing a clear strategy of Hellenizing the South. The Republican Party conveyed its views on this to the President, the Government and the Democratic Party, orally and in writing, as early as December 1992. Internal and external circumstances compel us to respect free elections unconditionally and to develop democracy. The Republican Party is very patient, but it will not accept either answers being given at the windows next to the voting booth, or threats and manipulation of any kind, because the free vote is

The Greeks themselves confirm their actual number in Albania The documents we are showing you explain very simply the actual number of Greeks in Albania. Vasil Bania, who lives in Tepelenë, thanks to his zealous devotion to the State Security service as a court witness, asks the special office (for the Hellenization of southern Albania) at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help with visas for Albanians he has recommended, who voted in the recent elections for the Party of the Rights of the Greeks in Albania. Across Albania, around 35,000 voters voted for this party in these elections. By all international criteria, the voting result is multiplied by two to establish the size of the population represented by the political formation. According to the declarations you see for yourselves, Albanians who paid Mr. Vasil drachmas to obtain a visa, or helped him by casting a vote for his party, must be subtracted from this number. Thus, by this very simple arithmetic, the number of Greeks—even allowing for the great tolerance of the Albanian state and the help afforded them by the economic circumstances of the Albanians—cannot exceed sixty thousand people. Greek diplomacy (Mr. Vasil’s special office) has tried to compensate for this indisputable reality in another, quite crude way. In the passport of every Albanian who obtains a visa for Greece at the Greek consulate in Gjirokastër, two illegal Greek stamps are placed—one on the photograph and the other in the middle of the pages—to indicate that everyone who obtains a visa at this consulate is Greek. Imagine how invalid and powerless this Albanian citizen’s passport is if presented for a visa at the German or Italian embassy in Tirana. Above the dry stamp of the Albanian state sits the fresh stamp of the Greek consul, as evidence of belated efforts to establish a Greek presence in Albania. Consul Jakov has now left, and we, at the very least, should erase his fresh stamps, which are not only on passports but across the whole geographical area where Albanians come up against the Greek influx, as happened ten centuries ago with the invasions that Hellenized the south of Epirus. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Special Office Athens We ask you to take this into consideration and help us resolve the visa problem quickly and definitively, as four months have passed without visas being issued, and the OMONIA council in the Tepelenë district (which has a certain vacancy) is under pressure every day from members of the organization who need to go to Greece, some to work and others for urgent matters. The problem is serious and the pressure is great. We therefore ask you to intervene with the Greek embassy in Tirana to issue visas as soon as possible for the Greeks of OMONIA and for some Albanians who helped us in the parliamentary elections in Albania on March 22. Chairman of the Omonia Council for the Tepelenë District Vasil Banga M. B. Two reproductions of documents with photographs and stamps.

Athens, May 31, AFP — Greece protested against the presence of the Albanian leader of Kosovo at a meeting of NATO parliamentarians in Oslo, the Greek news agency ANA reported on Tuesday. According to ANA, the Greek delegation at the plenary session of the North Atlantic Assembly “expressed regret” at the presence of Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova at the meeting, held from May 27 to 30 in Oslo. On Monday, the delegation stressed that the criteria on the basis of which Rugova was invited to take part in the debates ran “counter” to the objectives of the Atlantic Alliance and harmed stability in the Balkans.

On the day the Albanian communists changed their name to socialists (11 June 1991, the 10th Congress of the Party of Labour), they more or less ought to have imagined that a day would come when “Zëri i Popullit” would have to defend both the PS and the PP at the same time. The clearest manifestation of this paradox is the defense that “Zëri i Popullit” (organ of the PKP, PP, PS) offered the former leaders of the Party of Labour, headed by Ramiz Alia, during the trial. Other official manifestations occurred during the latest election campaign for elections in five municipalities where, according to the voters’ “antiminet,” socialist leaders defended communist ideas at times and socialist ones at others. Dokle, chairman of the socialists’ parliamentary group, used Enver Hoxha’s card in favor of the PS during the election campaign in Reç, while in Gracan of Mallakastër he attacked him. Thus, in this difficult mission of covering the communist space in Albania, Zëri i Popullit, through no fault of its own, leaves its most undesirable parts exposed in plain sight to the public. If we had distributed aid in every home, we might have achieved a somewhat higher percentage, because voters are not insensitive when you provide, in just a few days, things they have gone because it is entirely clean and three times greater than in the elections of 26 July 1992. Our difficulties increased not only because we could not make promises, but also because our candidates were threatened in unlawful ways, while the Socialist Party missed no opportunity to repeat the big lie that we would suck the landowners dry and ... who also entering with us, with the correct the free market. This reception its efforts beginning to take concrete shape. But we believe it is also a good thing for the whole country. Here is Parliament, dominated by the cards of one party, with a socialist party in opposition that seeks the destruction of democracy. It seems this parliament does not have the qualities needed to give the country the constitution and laws it lacks. Here is the day on which ought more or less in plain sight to the public. Leka Rëthova

Last night in Parliament Namik Dokle had announced the socialists’ departure from Parliament the day before, when he won; his deputies were playing jazz at the veneered tables of pluralism. Dritëroi, perhaps so as not to be present for the Second Socialist Departure, did not come at all yesterday. He was not lucky enough to hear Dokle’s command: “Get up!” (so as not to keep hearing the arguments about whether or not an incident had occurred in Libofshë). Some of the socialists regretted it as soon as they left the chamber: two or three of them said in the square in front of the Parliament building that it would have been better to say what they had to say, but Dokle’s verdict was irreversible(!), even though Dokle had made sure that TV would be there. The Second Departure, like the First Departure, came on the eve of the summer holidays and the new election season, and they believe that at least by September they will be back in Parliament. Departures from Parliament are becoming so frequent, like calls for early elections, that they are difficult to take seriously. The same goes for the fact that Dokle presented a long list of demands for resignations and dismissals at every level of central and local government. Had he not left the chamber, perhaps he would also have seen and presented the list of names he was itching to put in place of those he wanted dismissed! Meanwhile, the words “electorate,” “Libofshë,” and “democracy” were mentioned by him as window dressing for the walkout. “Republika”

The chief judge’s madwoman N was moving around the center on Monday morning, completely agitated, shrieking in an extremely painful manner and, from time to time, repeating a few words that only she could decipher. At midday, she appeared quite suddenly in Europe. “Where are you going?” one of the customs police officers asked her. “To Europe,” she replied. “Who will accept you in Europe?” “The Council of Europe will accept me. Everyone will accept me. I have with me proof of the great massacre that is taking place in the elections of the Republic of Libofshë.” “What proof?” the policeman asked in surprise. “Dokle’s jaw,” the madwoman replied, taking a plastic jaw out of her bag. “And what is this jaw doing in Europe?” “This jaw will be placed on the tables of international organizations for five years in a row,” the madwoman explained. “It will go down in history as the jaw of a persecuted socialist. It will show the world the dramas that fascism has played out on this land.” “But why did you take Dokle’s jaw?” the policeman asked. “It’s a secret,” she replied, “but I’ll tell you... Dokle is of Serbian origin, and for that reason his jaw will sit on European tables, as will, presumably, the jaws of Ndre Legisi or Gramoz Ruçi. You’re a policeman and you don’t understand that Serbian jaws have precedence. They come first.” “Stop!” said the policeman. “And the two of them?” “The Greeks,” said the madwoman. “Albanian jaws don’t usually get through...” “I won’t let you pass,” the policeman said again. “Big deal,” said the madwoman. And as she turned back, she said: “Namik Dokle and I will turn Albania into Stalingrad. And whatever happens, only the communists win in Stalingrad.” On Wednesday, throughout the day, the madwoman moved around all the cafés and coffee shops of the chief judge, kicking and hitting the tables and chairs. At Café Europa she climbed onto one of the tables and shouted for ten minutes straight: “Long live Stalingrad!”

Leka Rëthova

Magedonia, or a micro-Balkans Macedonia, or a micro-Balkans, by FATOS ARAPI, p. 3