Interior Minister Petro Koçi publicly criticizes Prime Minister Pandeli Majko for interfering in appointments in this ministry

Teaching suspended until a positive response is received from the government After the one-day strike, no results were achieved in the union’s favor Teachers have gone on an open-ended strike today. The Trade Union Federation of Education and Science has thus taken the decisive step to secure the fulfillment of its demands. Following work stoppages through a one-hour strike on 8 January and a one-day strike on 15 January, the unions have suspended teaching until they receive a positive response from the government. Page 17

Last night, Parliament elected by secret ballot Members of the Governing Council of Public Radio and Television 1-Kastriot Çaushi 2-Jorgo Bulo 3-Alfred Dalipi 4-Guro Zeneli 5-Natasha Xhafka 6-Aferdita Onuzi 7-Arian Leka 8-Kristaq Laka 9-Mira Meksi 10-Zef Preçi 11-Vjollca Mecaj 12-Dorela Haxhiademi 13-Arqile Garo (two other candidates are from the PD, but it has not yet submitted them to Parliament for approval)

Photo: G.SH.KULLAKU Fatos Nano during the election campaign of 29 June 1997, in which he led the SP and the coalition to victory

It is happening ahead of time. Even the withdrawn leader himself did not expect a reaction like the one in Vlora. But it has not happened only in the capital of revolts. Fatos Nano can be proud that he has renewed his party to the point of purity. And yesterday’s rally in Vlora looked like a fierce protest against hypocrisy. Because yesterday people remembered the months of suffering endured by thousands of young people from Vlora simply because they opposed Berisha’s regime, who today is the man making the law without holding power. But this is not the only reason Nano has earned the right to speak there, where the influence of illegal economic interests does not reach. The chairman of the SP demonstrated that he is ready to resign in order to compete from the same starting line as those who wanted to remove him, thereby declaring that he stands for clean politics, where decisions are not made by petty games and the politics of customs barriers, but by everyone’s abilities. But what is happening among the Socialist grassroots could once again create the danger of misunderstanding the former chairman of the SP. Just as happened with the motion, when some of those who now curse the chairman joined together, after he had dressed them in respectable suits and given them government portfolios. The first misunderstanding begins with Nano’s wish to be heard before he is supported. The intuitive support being given to him at this moment cannot guarantee that what happened will not happen again if Nano returns to lead the SP. Nano’s message was anti-rally, and this is where the misunderstanding begins. But this is also where the problem begins for the former chairman of the SP in his campaign to establish a new kind of politics. It will be difficult to change the mentality, while his opponents’ offer is more readily available and more appealing, since they distribute money and power that produces money without sweat. All of this that the SP’s most sought-after leader is setting in motion looks like making politics more difficult. And because he will undoubtedly need an effective means of communication to reach even those who now support him intuitively. To achieve his goal and preserve his clear advantage in the months leading up to the Congress, Nano will have to build relations with the public, which did not understand the stance he took when he was prime minister and chairman of the SP. Naturally, on this point, he was wrong then. Only in this way will he not lose the votes of support next time from people who misunderstand him, and will he publicly and precisely clarify all his positions. So that this time they are voted for what they truly are. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that when Nano was in power together with his associates, the latter once helped the brothers with money—not only from his own hands, but also from prominent figures in Berisha’s authoritarian government.