47 DP officials received $150,000 each from “Gjallica” VEFA: The news of the attack is speculative. Today we are distributing the money. Berisha yesterday congratulated the people of Fier on the DP’s sweeping victory Karamitro to Fino: Do in three weeks what the DP failed to do in six years. p. 5 The politics of entrapment, treachery and Albanian chaos pp. 5–7 “Albania” is lying Godo did not lose the money at “Gjallica” p. 2 VEFA pays out today p. 6 Photo: A. Babani

Albanians will vote under the 1950s law applied by France Yesterday, too, consensus remained out of reach, already badly undermined by Europe and America. The parties, which were calling for Berisha to be removed from directing the elections, sat down at the negotiating table yesterday, but the DP did not deign to listen to them. Yesterday, too, the President failed for the fourth time at his electoral rally, this time in Fier. The wedding party he had brought with him from Tirana could not fill the TV screen with enthusiasm. Yesterday, eight parties insisted on consensus, while the President did not deign to listen to them. For their part, the eight “rebel” parties also presented another package of proposals, aimed at having the Council of Ministers regain legislative initiative to approve amendments that would stop vote thieves in their tracks. Meanwhile, the utterly exhausted President did not deign to hear them, because the Democratic Party weighs heavily on his shoulders. The parties are demanding that the Prime Minister take SHIK under his own authority, in accordance with the law. Berisha remains silent, as if to say, “I need SHIK for the campaign.” The parties reiterated their demand, which would put into practice the proposal of the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the OSCE mission to implement point five of the 9 May Agreement on establishing the RTV Council, while Berisha says: “I need TV to stage-manage the campaign...” At first glance, it seems that the eight parties on one side and the Democratic Party on the other are quarrelling over nothing, over Çelo’s moustache. The DP keeps circling around the proportional-majoritarian system and avoids the essential issue: what the eight parties are demanding—the dismantling of the electoral infrastructure and the removal of Berisha’s power to appoint the commissions. The eight parties grew tired of repeating their demands; the DP pretends not to understand. In their latest interviews, DP leaders are ready to make concessions at every stage, but not one concession concerning the 115 electoral districts that they laboriously established on 26 May and which brought them a sweeping victory. But where did the DP get this structure of electoral districts? It may be a poor copy of the electoral law France applied in the mid-1950s. This is a paradox. Perhaps it would be better to copy the law under which the French vote in the 1990s—unless the law under which the French vote in the 1990s is abolished. Are the parties quarrelling over Çelo’s moustache, or ...?

On Thursday, 22 May 1997, at 11:00, the chairpersons of the PR branches are to appear at the Central Headquarters to submit the candidates for parliament, finally approved in accordance with the instructions of the Party Presidium, as well as the relevant documentation for each candidate. The Presidium of the PRSP

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