USA: 1996 elections, a step backward for democracy

These irregularities cast a shadow over the prospects for democratic progress, which remains the cornerstone of our relations with Albania A strong statement from the State Department arrives in Tirana The May 26 elections were a step backward compared with those held four years earlier, when former last communist president Ramiz Alia was still in power. This was the strong statement issued yesterday from the offices of the State Department concerning what happened in the latest elections in Albania. But the position of the United States is not limited to merely publicizing the flagrant violations observed by foreign observers and noting that the hands of Albania’s democratic clock have begun moving in the opposite direction from those of the West. Yesterday’s statement says that these irregularities cast a shadow over the prospects for democratic progress, which remains the cornerstone of US relations with Albania. The White House, Washington page 3

“Financial Times” writes about the elections in Albania

Elections a mockery of the Council of Europe page 5

Manipulations cannot be legitimized

Where slaves rule and despots reign page 7

Pashko proposes a way out of the crisis

New elections within the first six months of 1997

PDD: Technical government until the vote

The head of state must be barred from taking part in the election campaign page 4

Petrit Kalakulla speaks

Godo and Berisha destroyed the right wing No one properly appreciated Berisha’s Orthodox psychology and thirst for power page 9

The talk of the birth of a new Albanian dictator is spreading far and wide

Edi Rama writes to Berisha Even General Enver Hoxha himself would have envied Tuesday’s fascist violence page 9

Mehmet Shehu’s remains have disappeared for good

Bashkim Shehu: “Teodor Laço was my denouncer” He had been reburied beside a rock on the bank of the Erzen River in Ndroq, near Tirana The son had learned of it earlier, according to official information and an eyewitness at the 1984 reburial ceremony organized by the State Security Service page 2

SP: Criminal proceedings against police chief Agim Shehu

Accused of crimes against humanity A complaint concerning the events in Skënderbej Square has been filed with the prosecutor’s office page 5

We demand the annulment of the elections

Majko: The strikers have begun experiencing their first health problems On the second day, 147 candidates from PS, AD, PSD and PUK are on hunger strike PAD parliamentary candidates yesterday, on the second day of the hunger strike — page 3