Berisha, the last dictator
editorial
Yesterday, the Democratic Party’s newspaper published yet another article accusing Gazeta Shqiptare of having received 10 thousand dollars to publish the electoral poll conducted by the Institute for the Study of Public Opinion.
According to the poll, which attempted to predict the results of the October 1 vote (like all polls, this latest one too has absolutely relative value), the Socialist candidate Edi Rama emerged as the winner, but the Democratic Party received 25.9 percent, thus becoming the leading party in the capital. The same poll also showed the clear defeat of the Socialist Party, which fell to 21 percent.
These are the figures. What have the reactions been? The Socialist Party has not reacted. Edi Rama, concerned that the Socialists might consider him stronger than their party, gave several very civil interviews, saying that, in his view, the poll was inaccurate. And what about the PD, which came out on top? Did it perhaps thank us for the optimistic predictions? No, it attacked us with its usual slander and the same violent and insulting language that not only Gazeta Shqiptare, but also most journalists in Albania, have experienced.
The most interesting aspect of the Democratic Party’s furious and vulgar reaction to the poll is not the crude accusation it directed at our newspaper, but the fact that the PD considers a victory of “only” 25.9 percent insulting. In fact, its leader, former president Sali Berisha, is the only person who continues to dream of total power—the kind he enjoyed from 1992 to 1997, when he ruled alone, without any limits. Berisha does not accept that elementary principle found in all European democracies, known as a “relative majority.”
A “relative majority” obliges you to govern together with other parties; an absolute majority allows you to govern alone, as happens in dictatorships, and this is the political dream Berisha pursues. The Democratic Party has great merits in the country’s history, but its greatest fault is... Continues on page 2
These are the figures.