Greeting by Mr. Godo, delivered on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the founding of PRSH Honourable Mr. Prime Minister and members of the Government, Your Excellency representatives of the Diplomatic Corps, Dear friends! Honourable Mr. Prime Minister and members of the Government Your Excellency representatives of the Diplomatic Corps Dear friends! On 10 January the Republican Party turned five years old. Time has its own secrets. Because of the intensity of events, these five years have passed very quickly. But, taking a look at what has been achieved, we can say that we lived those five years with dignity. Our people entered the path of democracy and progress, and nothing can turn it back. At last the fate of our country was settled: being situated at one of the crossroads between East and West, it carries on its shoulders a history that is both glorious and tragic. All Albanians have the right to enjoy a future as a free people, thanks to international circumstances and to the efforts made in the country over the past five years. Since the day it was founded, the Republican Party has persistently intensified the struggle for freedom and for the fairest possible solution to the fundamental problems of the time. As the second opposition party, the Republican Party committed itself faithfully to breaking communist power, taking care in every case to avoid civil war, which would have been more destructive than in any other Eastern country. Our consistency in the struggle for the peaceful unification of the Nation has become well known. With our principles and our day-to-day policy we have demonstrated the reason for a free and strong democratic order, in which the law rules equally for all. With our alternative we have clearly proved that we stand for an economy based on lawful private property and individual initiative. We stand for the protection of our national, social and family morality from the phenomena that threaten it. These now familiar phenomena have drawn public attention to the Republican Party. The growth of its influence is deserved, and we can feel happy and at ease in our conscience on this fifth anniversary celebration. Yesterday afternoon, in the premises of the Palace of Congresses, a cocktail was held on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Republican Party. Present were Prime Minister Aleksandër Meksi, Foreign Minister Alfred Serreqi, Interior Minister Agron Musaraj, deputies of the People’s Assembly, representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Albania, leaders of political parties, journalists, etc. The greeting was delivered by the chairman of PRSH, Mr. Sabri Godo. Gentlemen, In today’s political reality, two questions once again arise that should have been definitively clarified in recent years; first, whether Albania will move toward the West or the East, and second, whether there will be a return to socialist regimes. It is entirely impossible for Byzantine currents to prevail. But if a return to socialism of any kind were to occur, our Western orientation would also suffer a serious blow, just as the efforts of the entire people for a better life would also be called into question. We are at a moment of great responsibility for all Albanians regarding the future of the country and of the whole Nation, beginning with the major issue of Kosovo. The Republican Party is ready to take its share of responsibility within the Right Wing Alliance. We want agreements on the great issues of the country, viewing politics as the art of civic co-governance, something that is not possible without respect for the free vote and pluralism. We hope that this year will definitively place Albania on the right path of democracy and toward Europe. I warmly greet our republicans and supporters throughout the country. Thanking you once again for your participation, I invite you to raise a glass for peace and friendship.

It has become customary for every party to celebrate its birthdays, not merely by clinking glasses filled with leftovers. Nor can one wish for the merriment of the celebration, the stereotyping of which during the years of dictatorship turned into a revolting formality, but by clearly looking at oneself and one’s development, with a sense of responsibility and of the passage of time. The Republican Party has the fortune and the merit of being almost the twin of pluralism in Albania, because of the well-known historical fact that it was born before the ninth month of a system still unfinished, which forced the dictatorship to decree political pluralism, but also because, while being the second opposition force together with the Democratic Party in opposing communism, it played a special role in its overthrow. To assess the growth of the PR, not only in the practical sense of numbers, but above all through its weight in the general political life of the country, one cannot do so without viewing this phenomenon separately from nationwide political developments. Nor can one be indifferent to the process of the arrival and consolidation of democracy, as an institution long built and long aspired to by Albanians, yet almost unknown to them. In pluralist Albania, the Republican Party could not emerge with the weight, nor beyond the potential it possessed, outside the constraints of reality and the political conjunctures in Albania. Just like the natural ally of those years, the PD, the PR was forced to confront a force that was truly dangerous and considerably experienced, both organizationally and politically. The PPSH (the force we are talking about), today converted into the PS, in addition to this, possessed the entire possible arsenal to achieve its aims, which was nothing more and nothing less than the maximum slowing down, and if possible the complete elimination, of the democratization process in the country. For this it was ready to exploit even weapons (the army, police, justice, etc.), but also demagoguery, carried to the point of institutionalization and into the structures. Its fallback goal, in case the objective of total elimination of democracy was not achieved, was its monopolization and the democratic alibi, not only by calling it a product of the communists, but also by reaping the false fruits of such a democracy, which, in the example of the kinozodikt[?], created fictitious firsts that "voluntarily" accepted the tutelage of the communists. It was precisely here that the PR’s struggle began, more than a mere harvesting of votes, relying more on its political intuition than on political experience, which, to tell the truth, must be acknowledged as nonexistent. Proposal for the Council Continued on p. 6

Socialists make an unsubstantiated request. The Constitutional Court rejects the PS request for the suspension of the law on cleansing political life of those incriminated during the communist dictatorship. The court also fails to issue a ruling on the lawsuits filed by the two left-wing parties for the declaration of unconstitutionality of the two laws approved by Parliament on the vetting of public figures and the dossiers law. After a 3-hour hearing, the President of the Constitutional Court, Rustemi Gjata, decides that on 31 January 1995 the final ruling will be issued against the two lawsuits by the left-wing parties. The hearing began on 18 October 1995, but the Constitutional Court could not issue a ruling because the implementing regulations of the parliamentary law had not yet been issued. The session continued at the end of November 1995, but the implementing regulations still had not been issued, so the hearing was postponed. With the release of the dossiers law, the Constitutional Court informed PS and PSD, which were particularly opposed to Article Three of the law, which excludes from political life not only the leaders of their parties but also around 30% of their officials, that on 17 January 1996 it would issue a ruling, since it considered the implementing regulations to have been issued. But at this session the ruling was again not issued, because the court dealt with the acceptance of new facts on the part of the two left-wing parties and with the preliminary requests they had submitted. A preliminary request was filed by PS, which wanted the enforcement of the law suspended until the Constitutional Court issued its ruling. This request was rejected because the law had not yet come into effect, therefore such a request is not considered valid. Likewise, the PSD leaders Gjinu[?] and Apostoli left the session even though they had not heard Mr. Gjata’s ruling. I.Z

Kosovo Prime Minister Bujar Bukoshi speaks P. 5

Brojka: Electoral law? Toward a majoritarian system P. 4

P. 3