Meeting with the Prime Minister and the Opposition P. 3

Agolli: Here is why I am not running for chair The reasons for my categorical refusal P. 5

Malaj: Majko is turning the entire PS against Nano P. 5

P. 9

By Faruk MYRTAJ It is perfectly normal in the mind of Albanian public opinion, and even of the international public interested in Balkan Albania and the democratic fate of pluralism in this country. Monopartism since 1990 can no longer be accepted as a governing alternative. The market economy itself rules out, both as a practice and as a mindset, the monopoly of any political force: the PD and the PS were “forced” to form a governing coalition, even though both manage to win a majority sufficient for single-party rule. Both disappointed their electorates: the PD brought Gjinushi into parliament and not Godo, and offered a force to its left, the PSD, as a coalition partner rather than the PR; the PS, for its part, offered posts, even left-wing portfolios, to its allies, including the PSD, left weakened by the pro-PD faction, but also the AD, as a governing alibi against the initial right wing of pluralism. Inspired by the student movement, the democratic movement was not initially predisposed to be realistic in its actual assessment of history. Neither the students nor the broader masses ever managed to understand clearly that communism was neither overthrown nor could be overthrown by them alone, within one season or one December, as though this had not happened throughout the East; all the more so since, as an anti-communist movement, the students’ movement was nothing more than the awakening of a spirit of long resistance to bon-communism. According to a careful analysis stripped of election campaigns and the fever for power, this also appears to be the main reason why the PD was unable to answer clearly the question: Is the Right the Left of the Left, or the Left of the Right? Both formulations refer to a centrist force, but not clearly to a centre-right political force. The consequence of this kind of equivocation is equivocal positions on the whole question of property, former owners, and political prisoners. The recent return, as an alternative for the future PD, to a more positive position on the problems above is a realistic opportunity to unify the Right: the PD, alone, given the changes it has shown so far, cannot win on its own. The only hope in the name of the real Right: likewise, the part of the spectrum to the right of the PD will find it impossible to compete again separately without rapprochement with the PD and the PS at the same time. The concern is raised in the interest of strengthening pluralism: only clarification of positions and alliances would make it possible not only to formulate programs and alternatives, but also to ensure respect for electorates and the promises made to them. The absurdity in question is evident at the very highest levels of power and the state: some who until yesterday were divided over a name cannot find the strength to break away from the fever for power. As the Right is gnawed away, pure-leftists suddenly emerge, while in the power of the Left, some very outspoken right-wingers hold forth! As a result, there are no longer ideas, ideals, a moral code, or morality in politics.

“THE COMPROMISE”

P. 5

A laugh-and-cry interview with the writer Qamil Buxheli P. 11

P. 13

Opinions by: Gjergj Zheji, Nasi Lera, Tinka Kurti, Adem Istrefi P. 3