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EDITORIAL Page 9 There is no salary in the campaign The Ministry of Public Order guaranteed that the election campaign would also proceed peacefully. This was said just one day after Mr Poci declared that the incident involving Ms Topalli was something she had made up. Meanwhile, people from the Blue Headquarters have made oaths and sworn statements that, in the event of a similar incident, the reactions would be different. MP Braho writes an article in his party’s newspaper and denounces a plan by Mr Berisha to kill a PD leader. The accusation resembles the incident involving Azemi. Since we are on the eve of September, memories are being refreshed. The Prosecutor’s Office has yet to make any optimistic statement about solving the crime against Azemi. It is known that in the middle of the campaign—more precisely, mid-campaign—the two-year investigation deadline expires, and the Prosecutor’s Office must speak or archive the case. Given what we are hearing, it is difficult to predict a peaceful campaign. Minister Poci himself has made contradictory statements over several consecutive days regarding the incident in Vlora. At first, a full investigation of the case was promised. Ulqini, the PS chair in Tirana, spoke of rival gangs, and a day later it emerged that Ms Topalli had staged the ruse herself. Then the ball passed to the PD. Mr Berisha cursed the Socialists in power, while Topalli recounted everything that had happened to her, not forgetting even her most personal feelings, as a Guard officer risked losing his job. These are not merely statements; they herald a heated campaign climate, in which one candidate is physically harmed, another morally, another professionally, while someone else is targeted because of their location. We are still on the last day of August. The campaign begins in September, while the weapons of the political strongholds have been raised. Then the gunfire begins, as so often happens, while voters are supposed to express their choice among candidates backed by people with Kalashnikovs.

Bullets in Kavajë over ridiculous motives A tragedy occurred over some livestock grazing on the pasture belonging to the … Two people were killed and a police officer was seriously wounded in an incident yesterday in a village in Kavajë. It all happened at around 07:40 yesterday morning, when 14-year-old Kudret … from the village of Gosë e Vogël, … his livestock to graze on Beqir Seferi’s land. But this infuriated 45-year-old Seferi, who did not wait for the matter to be settled first … and instead pointed his firearm. Several Kalashnikov bullets fatally struck the 14-year-old boy, who was seriously wounded and was then taken to Rrogozhinë hospital. Page 5

Nano and Meta, the campaign’s television bogeymen Socialist Party chairman Fatos Nano has decided to illegally gain airtime for electoral propaganda by holding all campaign events together with Prime Minister Ilir Meta. In this way, Nano will not only be protected by members of the Republican Guard, who will accompany the prime minister throughout the campaign, but will also get airtime on public and state television and radio. Page 4

AMC employees denounce the fraud The Italian company IMI, which undertook management of the sale of the Albanian mobile-phone company, received 8.5 million dollars. Since Albanian Mobile Communication (AMC) belongs to a strategic sector, it could not be privatized by the Ministry of Public Economy and Privatization itself, but had to be handled under the supervision of an international company specialized in this process. This is also provided for in Albanian law. Page 7

National Association “Property with Justice” Page 14

On Sunday, 03.09.2000, at 11:00, in the hall of the Opera and Ballet Theatre in Tirana, PRSH will launch its election campaign. All PR candidates for mayors of the country’s municipalities and communes should attend, as well as the chairpersons and secretaries of PR branches in the districts. The Executive Board

PR presents candidates for the Capital’s municipalities Pages 2, 3 ALBANIAN REPUBLICAN PARTY 1991 FOR TIRANA Dr. Maksim Haxhia, the distinguished jurist who will lead Tirana

Albania’s first female martyr destroyed Page 21