He has been absent without justification from sessions of the People’s Assembly The Parliament’s finance office has docked half the salary of the PD leader page 3

The resignation of Italian Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema, following a narrow defeat in Sunday’s local elections, could hardly fail to make an impression on Albanian public opinion. This is because, with only a rare exception, the institution of resignation in Albania, as a way of accepting defeat, has not been granted citizenship in Albanian politics. In fact, D’Alema did not lose parliamentary elections, nor a confidence vote in Parliament that might have made his resignation obligatory. However, considering the local election results a test of popular support for the coalition government he led, he felt he had lost the moral right to govern an electorate, the majority of which had declared itself in favor of his opponents in the opposition. As for Albania, one could compile a long list of examples in which Albanian politicians are not in the least fazed not only by losing a battle at the polls, but even by evidence—and even the publication of damning facts against them—concerning their involvement in illegal dealings. Looking only at recent years, Albanian politicians have preferred to plunge the country into chaos, to the brink of civil war, solely because of their inability to come to terms with losing favor and popular support in general. Ministers continue to serve in the government cabinet led by Meta, despite the evidence against them on every front. Albania is perhaps the only country where senior officials accused of corruption, involvement in smuggling, and participation in abuses of every kind cannot summon enough strength to waive their immunity and submit to judgment, even on moral grounds. The only positive example in this regard is that of former Prime Minister Majko, who, by resigning after losing the contest for party chairman to Nano, can be said to have acted like a European politician. Now, the election battle between the two camps of Albanian politics, led by Nano and Berisha, has just begun. It is true that this autumn’s elections concern only local government leaders, but in reality they are a test of support among the electorate. It is known that the elections will have one winner and one loser, but the question awaited with just as much interest is whether the losing side will be able to accept the result. Will Nano or Berisha have the civic courage to follow the example of the Italian Prime Minister and democratic leader by resigning as head of the political force they lead? Our experience so far makes us doubt it. And if that does not happen, we will have to accept that today’s politics still need decades to become civilized.

page 2 PS fears the rally: What will we tell the people?

Read tomorrow: Neritan Ceka, political sponsor of the Lebanese firm “SEAMENT” Tirana, “champion” 630 unauthorized rallies in 3 years page 8 A tragic story Four years in the Infectious Diseases Hospital bed page 13 Foreign debt Every Albanian will “pay” 200 USD page 15 “Robinson Crusoe” Three years in the mountains out of fear page 9