10/06/1997
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Republika

10 June 1997

Xhaferi reveals his ties with Berisha

Hotel “Linza” was the meeting place of the two presidents. The general: I am the third hand. The first two?... Assassination attempt with shotguns against Berisha. Police stations accuse Belul Çelo. Chairman of the DP suspended

SP-DP take a hammer to the electoral system

Berisha reveals the plan, Dokle plays the clown, Fino plays the fool RP: Thank you, Berisha; the time for coalitions with the DP has passed Berisha inadvertently reveals the plan that his party has drawn up together with the Socialist Party. More or less, the plan was as follows: to break its loneliness and isolation, the SP enticed the small allies with the proposal to make them owners of 75% of the proportional representation seats on 29 June. Berisha understood the game and initiated the agreement. It did not suit the SP to have the big party make proposals to the small ones, so it rushed to Berisha (in fact, Nano had sent Dokle as an emissary to the President). It is said that Dokle complained to the President about the “blunder” he had made in favor of the small parties. Berisha reassured Dokle: “You don’t agree with your own proposal? And, in fact, it doesn’t suit us either, but now we can’t back out. Take the issue to the Constitutional Court; I’ll call Ruscem and tell him to make sure you win the case. Of course, our side wins too...” That is where the plan ends. Events unfolded along the familiar course. The day after the Constitutional Court’s decision, Vranicki came to Albania; he paid no attention at all to the small parties, met Nano and Berisha, packed his suitcase, and went back the way he had come. Meanwhile, Dokle and Berisha appeared on the small TV screen and spoke in the same language: if the small parties want representation in Parliament, they should join the big ones. Berisha pretends to have a heartache for the small right-wing parties, while Dokle plays the clown very badly. On Sunday, the President convened the National Council of the DP solely to make public his appeal to the electorate of the Republican Party and the National Front. Mr Berisha feels for the right-wing electorate and, after cursing the SP’s betrayals, invites the RP-NF to join his fold. The President, de facto chairman of the DP, has also tried on other occasions to meddle within the RP through his own people; indeed, at the very beginning of the campaign he had loudly declared that he would support certain DP candidates. It seems his calculations did not turn out as he had expected, so he seized the opportunity to call on the Republicans to be forcibly brought back into the DP’s house. This time, he thinks he will have difficulty. And at the Lezhë rally, chairman Godo has taken a firm position: “The time for coalitions with the DP has passed.” At last night’s meeting, the RP Steering Committee was also unanimous in rejecting Berisha’s request for a coalition and free zones. The National Front Party likewise takes the same position toward Berisha’s offer. The only alliance recognized by the RP and the National Front is the United Albanian Right. The DP and SP should hide their faces before the Albanian electorate for the dirty game they organized at the expense of the small parties. For three months, they irresponsibly made a mockery not only of the parties but, above all, of the people, whom they left with a thorn lodged in their very marrow and who wait day after day for a way out of the crisis.

Vranicki: OSCE does not appoint observers for the observers

p. 3

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