The successful conclusion of the debate on the minimum threshold for entering Parliament, though stripped of its own hypocrisies, seems to be fully undermined by the developments anticipated by the electoral law. The Democratic Party seeks to steal back what it has lost The successful conclusion of the debate on the minimum threshold for entering Parliament, though stripped of its own hypocrisies, seems to be fully undermined by the developments anticipated by the electoral law. It is not that the positive importance of fixing it is denied, nor the setting of the ceiling for the number of deputies, but what again casts one back into a position of skepticism about the party and presidential sincerity of the former opponents of the threshold is the whole series of statements published in progression from Brojka to T. Shehu, regarding the way the ratios should be corrected. Not only expressed in principle, but also with specific numerical details, where the 4% threshold would be divided into fractions for 15 parliamentary seats, the logical flow of the assumptions leads one to believe that the phase of discussion and tactical planning within the PD is already closed. And not only that, but even a purely arithmetic calculation of the number of seats gained by those parties that will benefit from the correction of the percentages leads to the conclusion that these tactics and plans are once again part of the PD’s totalitarian strategy. It is hard to say whether its politicians are so naive as to believe even the results of the polls published by themselves, which in the end would reflect their own wish to eliminate the small parties entirely in a parliament that can be easily controlled and commanded by the mechanism of the vote. If time shows that these kinds of statements are not simply a practice already applied on other occasions as well, but rather a way to gauge the pulse of other political forces, this would mean that the final aim is to determine the pre-election period much more than the character and composition of the future Parliament. If we were to believe that even the leaders of the PD have understood that the tendencies to popularize their party have disfigured its politics from the physiognomy of the Right, pushing it more and more toward left-wing practices, then we would also understand the efforts of those leaders to regain the electoral forces that accompanied this process of political exploitation. Naturally, it is too late to win back this disappointed electorate, especially since not only have left-wing practices taken the PD so far that no one can believe in its honesty, but also because the completed Albanian political landscape has meanwhile identified the true Right, making it possible for the right-wing electorate to find its party outside the PD. The exact numerical figures Continues on p. 2

“Skupa '95” continues Neither Christmas nor Papandreou’s illness changed the Greek constant Greece remains consistent in its stance. Greek prisons are filled with detained migrants, who are loaded onto buses and repatriated to Albania. The figures have been fixed for a week now. Every day 1,000–1,100. Every day 350–500 at Kakavijë and 400–800 at Kapshticë. Every day the same number are gathered in Piraeus, Athens, and Thessaloniki. “SKUPA 95” is also carried out on the eve of Christmas, when the Greeks were more liberal over these five years. In December '95 they are more consistent than in other years. In fact, now it is not expected that many bodies from Athens morgues will need confirmation from the Albanian Embassy as to whether they are Albanian or Eastern European, Asian, or African migrants. They are loaded into vehicles and brought to Albania, as happened in recent days when two corpses, one Asian and one Black, were taken as far as Kakavijë on the pretext that they were Albanian, and only the insistence of the Albanian authorities made clarification possible. Nevertheless, in recent times another fact has also become known. Many letters have been sent by Albanian migrants to the Prime Minister of Greece, Papandreu, wishing him a speedy recovery, and they beg him that with his recovery the attitude of the Greek authorities toward the return of migrants will also change. But even these letters have changed nothing in the Greek stance. B.F.

Teini I’m ready to go and set up the pay in Bosnia, on condition that they don’t open my file. There will be great jokes and headlines when the spies come out of the newspapers like mushrooms after the rain. The United Party of National Security Fungus Heads, which will be formed as soon as the law for the protection of the image of high-ranking officials comes into force, will take part in the elections and, according to the polls, will win them. The News of the Day has finally come out every day.

The Kosovo office opens in Washington Yesterday the information office of Kosovo was opened in Washington, and it will begin operating at the start of next year. Meanwhile, the president of the Republic of Kosovo, Dr. Ibrahim Rugova, is on a visit to the United States, where he held meetings with Secretary of State Warren Christopher, the Clinton administration’s national security adviser Anthony Lake, and other Clinton administration officials. Rugova told the press that he was very satisfied with the visit and that he had received assurances that Kosovo would be on the “Top List” after Dayton. In his meetings with American officials, Rugova requested direct U.S. mediation on the Kosovo issue.

A protest from the PR spokesperson The Republican Party says Albanian Television is deliberately blocking coverage of its political activities. A protest from the PR spokesperson 2

The families of the missing from the “Adriatik” continue to live under the torture of anxiety Another tearful concern, tormented by the anxiety of waiting, which is even worse than the tragic news itself, knocked at our editorial offices. Following the letter from citizen Asllan Etemi, it is now the relatives of Remzi Petrani, 30, and Veli Balla, 27, both from the city of Vlorë, who want to know anything possible about the fate of their children. Our editorial staff inquired with personnel at the Italian embassy in Tirana, where we were told that so far there is no confirmation other than that made known by various official Albanian and Italian sources. Also, the information available so far from the specialists we contacted told us that the winds and the sea that night on 25 November, when the missing persons set out from the Albanian coast, rule out any possibility that the transport motorboat drifted south. If, in the worst case, it did not reach the southern shores of Italy because of the severe conditions, its fate should be sought north of the Strait of Otranto, not only on the northeastern coast of Italy, but the possibility of the coast of Malta is also not excluded. On the other hand, neither the consular group nor the other competent Albanian authorities give any signal other than silence. Republika

NATIONAL LIBRARY Tirana [?]