War in Tropojë, the North out of control Police move to Alert Level No. 1 Page 5

EDITORIAL By Agim BAÇI The kingdom of postponed deadlines and violated laws seems to remain the only boundary within which Albanian institutions have long been carrying out their activities. The CEC itself, through its postponement of decisions and the endless irregularities in the proceedings, seems to have had the unsparing support of a law passed with the “constitutional” insistence of the Socialists, to arm themselves with a voting cudgel. Neither the completion of the commissions nor compliance with campaign rules has anything to do with the Electoral Code—a code that for weeks became the subject of heated debate between the government and the opposition. It seems that once again we have fallen into the trap of voting on a law, such as the signing of the convention against the Death Pen- [text cut off/garbled in source] retaining the post of minister even after his candidacy for mayor has thrown into the trash not only an entire Electoral Code, but also the Constitution of this country. ...Since the start of the election campaign, we have entered the kingdom of postponed deadlines and violated laws. The boundary of this kingdom continues to be guarded under the special patronage of the Socialist majority. Meanwhile, October 1, the only element in these elections that cannot be postponed or violated, seems set to bear on its back all the leaflets listing the deals baptized as “violations” or “postponements.” Albanian. The CEC itself, amid the wrangling over decisions and the endless irregularities in the processes, seems to have had the unstinting assistance of a law passed through the “constitutional” insistence of the socialists, in order to adopt a “modern” Electoral Code. But, less than two weeks before the elections, everything modern in this Code has returned to the old Albanian reality, where the law remains on one side and its implementation on the other. Thus, neither the verification of the lists nor the opening of Qen- a again we have fallen into the trap of voting for a law, like the signing of the convention against the Death Penalty, which suits only Europe’s demands and conditions, but bears no resemblance to the rules that govern Albanian politics and reality. And naturally, the crown of all the “modern” violations is worn by the minister-candidate, the socialist-civilian Edi Rama, who this time, with

Investigations/Prosecutors descend on DP offices The Deputy Speaker of the Albanian Parliament, Jozefina Topalli, is questioned. Three representatives of the Vlorë Prosecutor’s Office visited the office of the number two figure in the Albanian Parliament, who is also the number two figure in the Democratic Party, with the aim of taking her statement about everything connected with the incident in Peshkëpi, in the district of Vlorë. The “investigative” session, with Ms. Topalli as its main subject, lasted about an hour and a half and, according to sources from “Republika” close to the investigative team, the session was recorded on a dictaphone, and everything Ms. Topalli testified about what happened in Peshkëpi was subsequently transcribed.

Robbery Page 7

CEC: how to defuse the situation Page 4 Murder/Case returned to the Prosecutor’s Office “Zylyftar”: investigation overturned Page 9 Search announced for 41-year-old man from Tirana 3 million drachmas for 3 visas Page 8

Equipping citizens with cards does not reach 10% The electoral cards failed. The issuance of electoral cards to voters began in confusion caused by the members of the distribution commissions, and is ending the same way. According to the final lists submitted by the administrative units, of the 264,581 voters recorded in Tira-na, only 19,100 residents of the capital have been issued an electoral card. In recent days, fewer than 10% of voters in total have been able to obtain cards, while the commissions’ claim goes as high as 20%. Page 3 mabelex local & international

6 Republican candidates before the Tirana electorate The Republicans’ campaign is gaining momentum in Tirana. Yesterday afternoon, in one of the halls of the National Historical Museum, 5 of the PRSH candidates for the respective municipal units of the capital, Tirana, were introduced. In addition to the candidate for mayor, dr. Maksim Haxhia, the presentation was also attended by Neritan Alibali, Secretary for Public Relations at PRSH and Director of the newspaper “Republika.” Page 2