Was the November 6 vote a defeat for the PD? The Secretary speaks Tritan Shehu: “The vote was free” Was the November 6 vote a defeat for the PD? The Secretary speaks There will be another referendum Tritan Shehu: “The vote was free” Democracy has won; let dialogue win too “The new commission will change the project rejected by the people” “It is right that the decision be put back in the hands of the voters” TIRANA — “I would consider it right for the Constitution to be approved by a new referendum: the Commission will modify the current draft, but then the people must have the final say.” On the day when the President of the Republic acknowledges before the parties the defeat of the “Yes” vote, the idea of a second vote begins to take shape. It was Tritan Shehu, Secretary General of the Democratic Party, who put forward the proposal. “Naturally it will be Parliament that decides,” Shehu specifies for Gazeta Shqiptare — “but I insist that the Albanian people should have the right to return to deciding on their Constitution. So will there be a second referendum? It is a direction. Other possibilities will be studied, but I still believe that the referendum is the best path. When could the voting take place, in the spring or summer? That depends solely on the work of the Commission that will study the new draft Constitution. But I do not foresee that it will take much time, because the basis on which it will work is ready.” Will there be changes? “Of course.” Will the President’s powers also be changed? “That will be decided by the Commission.” The Socialists, when asked by Gazeta Shqiptare, say they are in favor of the hypothesis of a new referendum and also ask that the appointment of the members of the Commission be handled differently from the first time, that is, without leaving the PD the majority or the leadership of the Commission... At this moment the Socialists are not fighting for the Constitution, but for unimportant issues. They will ask for that, clearly. Do you rule out the possibility of early elections? “The Democratic Party has the majority in the country; it was elected in 1992 and it is normal for it to be voted on again in 1996. There is no reason to trigger a government crisis.” For you in the PD, this referendum was a defeat... “It is true, for us it was not a good thing and I say we must be honest. But I think it has one good aspect and the result of the referendum clearly shows that democracy now exists in Albania. Real democracy. We created the majority, we proposed a project, the people did not like it and the will of the people prevailed. We are here to respect, in the end, the will of the people and of course we think that the new draft Constitution must take this into account. For the Democratic Party, the Constitution has been and will always be the main objective. I think the most democratic way to approve it is through a referendum.” c. bo. Referendum results NO. DISTRICT VOTERS VALID INVALID Yes vote No vote VOTED Yes vote TOTAL 1768935 1630905 73848 692245 936660 84,43 41,30 1 Berat 74761 71062 3066 10219 11280 66,66 46,57 2 Bulqizë 21941 21479 436 1207 10062 88,14 19,53 3 Devinë[?] 12295 12259 228 2860 13047 87,74 28,50 4 Devoll 22695 22096 421 2519 23694 84,66 40,34 5 Dibër 47834 46630 1611 45953 42677 87,09 50,91 6 Durrës 90266 86663 1983 30622 62093 84,72 32,90 7 Elbasan 112033 92145 4544 26684 71186 86,24 25,65 8 Fier 112363 107906 1302 4179 14977 78,61 21,54 9 Gramsh 19400 19099 304 837 2932 88,05 28,01 10 Gjirokastër 32736 9728 208 5661 3867 85,16 58,98 11 Has 5954 50269 3288 36726 13643 77,65 35,99 12 Kavajë 14560 14292 2779 5132 6110 89,33 35,95 13 Kolonjë 9616 9350 2961 2435 6130 83,93 44,42 14 Korçë 91847 90747 475 45018 16360 81,94 24,27 15 Krujë 31847 20747 458 5207 16450 84,28 28,83 16 Kuçovë 21926 32166 723 18223 13031 82,86 41,78 17 Kukës 32906 24524 652 12334 12119 74,74 51,76 18 Laç 36295 35274 1012 18766 16158 78,92 53,67 19 Lezhë 33525 32523 7727 9555 22969 76,32 29,73 20 Librazhd 39559 28106 1299 14990 3144 84,57 47,62 21 Lushnjë 23159 24105 906 4328 9905 85,07 50,65 22 Mallakastër 18388 16518 220 7658 8500 87,51 47,65 23 Mat 7655 36514 1159 16898 19610 61,41 44,68 24 Mirditë 32649 22176 477 40540 11636 80,61 30,61 25 Peqin 17264 16282 982 5337 10446 82,28 29,91 26 Përmet 18995 19536 553 537 1416 82,49 36,35 27 Pogradec 39429 39841 761 1968 26702 77,35 49,03 28 Pukë 27969 22661 471 5825 16838 88,96 25,18 29 Sarandë 23133 22267 327 5187 17000 84,16 26,36 30 Skrapar 25714 103606 2152 63162 40444 85,38 39,72 31 Shkodër 233526 23145 377 67151 11184 76,96 48,25 32 Tepelenë 23886 61648 2356 26533 35115 78,35 41,53 33 Tiranë 30946 20143 468 15193 5281 85,41 72,53 34 Tropojë 92915 82103 1768 27773 55376 84,76 34,27 35 Vlorë 48496 145545 2613 75083 70462 77,29 50,68

No 53.9% YES 41.7% In the photo: from left, Pëllumbi, Gjinushi, Selami and Mele leaving the presidential palace after the meeting with Berisha (Photo A. Abani) In the photo: from left, Pëllumbi, Gjinushi, Selami and Mele leaving the presidential palace after the meeting with Berisha (Photo A. Abani)

The YES vote lost and the President meets with the parliamentary parties Pëllumbi: “We will respond later” The YES vote lost and the President meets with the parliamentary parties Berisha: “A new commission is needed” Pëllumbi: “We will respond later” TIRANA — No agreement was reached among the representatives of the parliamentary parties at Thursday’s meeting organized by President Berisha himself, a meeting that was nevertheless described as positive. The leaders of the parties PD, PS, PSD, PBDNJ and P. të A. responded differently to Berisha’s proposal to set up as soon as possible a new commission to draft the future constitutional project. The social-democratic representative Servet Pëllumbi did not immediately accept the creation of the commission. “We have not reached any agreement,” said President Berisha, who proposes that a new constitutional commission be established. The parties will now discuss this proposal. We will express our decision later, above all depending on how this commission will be composed and who will chair it.” Meanwhile, the leaders of the other parties had accepted the President’s idea. From their side, Eduard Selami responded: “Their majority is an attempt to exploit the victory of the NO vote.” He continued, “they should remain calm, the first consultation of political leaders by President Berisha was the first such meeting after the referendum. Eduard Selami, Servet Pëllumbi, Skënder Gjinushi, Sabri Godo, and Vasil Melo climbed the steps of the Presidency together on Thursday, a few hours before the official announcement of the referendum results by the Central Commission. It was already clear to Berisha: there was no longer any doubt. The majority of voters had expressed themselves against the project so strongly backed by him. The country was waiting for a swift solution, free of politics. A few hours later the Commission dispelled the last doubts: 53.89 percent of 1,000,676,035 Albanians had voted against the project. Only 41.7 percent had voted for it. Although he did not accept Berisha’s proposal at the first meeting, Pëllumbi spoke positively on yesterday’s Friday: “Every meeting is positive,” said Pëllumbi, “however, we will also carefully examine some fundamental issues that we had requested. I believe that the meeting with the others will continue in the future as well.” For the PD leader: “It is very important that the four parliamentary parties have reached a consensus.” Selami expressed optimism about reaching a political solution. At the meeting with Berisha, the new parties created after the election of the current Parliament were absent. The leader of a new PDS, Neritan Ceka of the Democratic Alliance, reacted sharply to this fact. “The fact that we were not invited to this meeting with Ceka told Gazeta Shqiptare — shows that this is an example of relic politics and continues with passionate politics and personal preferences. This is another attempt to revive Parliament. Now, after Berisha has lost in the ‘field of fate’ of the referendum, I think the time has come to return stolen power to the institutions.” A view also shared by the chairman of PBDNJ, Mele: “The representatives of AD and PDD should also have been there,” said Melo, who nevertheless described the President’s initiative as “a positive step, which seeks to resolve a Gordian knot created after the failure of the referendum and which will help overcome this situation as quickly as possible.” Another proposal came from the Democratic Right Party. According to its leader, returning the constitutional draft to Parliament has no value, since Parliament had delegated the powers to approve the Constitution to the people. For PDD, the only solution now is a Constituent Assembly. A version which, although much discussed until recently, seems unlikely to be taken into consideration by the other major parties. Fotos Baxhaku

Former President George Bush today in Tirana TIRANA — The first visit of the former last president of the United States, George Bush, to Albania begins today in Tirana. Although he will be there, he will be at his country’s embassy in the capital. This visit is purely private, with no political or diplomatic mission. Bush’s arrival in Albania perhaps comes because of the stages that the American former president has made in Eastern Europe. In a way, it aims to connect the country’s relations with the development of tourism easing between the U.S.A. and this country.

The Omonia issue: signs of dialogue Papoulias: “We want cooperation, we are not shaking up relations issues” TIRANA — The first positive messages between Athens and Tirana have been exchanged. Papoulias’ statements — Foreign Minister in the Papandreou government — that Greece did not consider the release of the 5 Omonia defendants, its northern neighbor, as a condition for normalizing the situation, were replied to on Thursday evening by a statement from the Tirana Foreign Ministry. “This is a sign that the Greek politician has changed,” Tirana said, “because before they had conditioned everything in the relations on the Omonia five issue. “Only a short time before Tirana’s statement, Papoulias had declared to the Greek press that Greece wishes to overcome the problems that exist in relations with Albania and that there is hope that the time has now come for the two countries to sit at the negotiating table. Another member state of the European Community, Italy, had shown itself ready to mediate between Tirana and Athens in order to establish a normal climate of good neighborliness between them. Meanwhile, at the first meeting of the Permanent Committee of the Council, Albania forcefully raised at the center the issue to which it is highly sensitive: Kosovo. Here Albania asked for the maximum engagement of the international institutions.

Declared innocent Two engineers from the “cement factory” process in Fushë-Krujë, Bujar Kraja, deputy president of the “Joint Venture,” and Pëllumb Koka, in the post of director of the cement factory, have been declared innocent in connection with the charge of arrest for the alleged embezzlement of the sum of 16 meda. The same verdict has also been pronounced, together with the defendants, against 6 other people who had been employees at this factory. Kraja and Koka were declared innocent by the Krujë Court one day after their employees had been released. Elbasan, hand in hand with deception About 6,000 police, 500 without pension and 100 stick pieces, are the goods seized in the markets, while a factor of bypassing the customs procedure. The police arrested 6 unknown businessmen, accusing them of smuggling goods. The responsibility that affected the case of the uncertainties of receiving the seizure, the police discovered [to?] through the observation of 6 seized [factory?] objects on the Tirana road. Citizens talk about their commissioners A new exchange of ideas took place at the second bilingual meeting with their writers and sociologists from Albania. In reporting on the commissioners [of?] in the framework referred to and [as?] the nationality [of?] citizens and [the?] [equal?] of identity were [examined?].

Mice also “eat” traffic lights TIRANA — Mice versus traffic lights. These have been the cause of the interruption of the green-red blinking for two or three weeks at many of Tirana’s intersections. The eyes of drivers, now accustomed to looking for the traffic-light signals, have for a short time returned to the old habit: looking at the hands of the traffic policeman. And it has never occurred to them that all this trouble has come from mice. As qualified rodents, they did not hesitate to approach the signal control boxes and taste the thin multicolored current that carries the electric signals. It was the technician in charge of caring for the traffic-light equipment who was left astonished when, the night before last (200 and the mice of the metros that [??]) the central boxes were opened. In any case, he has refused to give from the circuit that they have made an adjustment. For this difficulty for a [lack?] of [authorized?]. The traffic lights continue to remain out of use. Nothing remains except for drivers to be made to get used [again?] [like?] before. Not with [spring?] and [traffic lights?] [placed?] of the [??] conservative and [not?] [??] for the time when there were more traffic policemen than [traffic lights?] on the streets of Tirana. Gj.P.L.

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