Berisha accuses the Speaker of Parliament of murdering Hysenbelliu Police issue a wanted notice for the former head of the Vlora DP branch, suspected of the murder on the day of the rally page 3

ALEKSANDËR ÇIPA “Nano in America, Berisha in Vlora.” This unwritten headline was strangely absent from the pro-government press this week. The entry of the leader of the Democrats into Flag Square in Vlora, amid the state police’s maximum expenditure of energy, became the event that drew the tense attention of the entire Albanian political and non-political public. For the first time, immediately after this visit, the government’s public-relations office was quick to claim its share of the achievement, thereby giving the majority party itself a genuinely proud moment. The follow-up to US Ambassador Limpreht’s complimentary statement on the Democrats’ turbulent descent on Vlora, which took place without incident, marked both a dignified institutional stance by the Albanian police and political credit for the government. But while the noise over the various successes of the rally in Vlora was dying down, another issue emerged on Tirana’s political scene: yesterday, the head of the majority, Nano, had just stepped off the Washington-bound flight at Rinas when, among his first words, he added: “This was not the return match.” Taken in its political subtext, this statement reflects the Socialist leader’s view that the political duel between him and his rival Berisha has reached the point of an “open-field match,” with many referees. Yet after these first words upon his return, Nano unexpectedly revealed, through an open contrast, an official rift in relations between his “camp” and the head of the OSCE in Tirana. Asked what he thought of the ambassador’s statement, whose implication was that the government should resign if the opposition won the local elections, Socialist leader Nano said: “Ahrens should not behave like one of his predecessors...” This nervous reaction directed at Ambassador Ahrens signals a cooling of relations between the government and the institution monitoring the elections. The existence of a chill with the head of the OSCE unintentionally exposes concerns about another problem—or rift—in communication with representatives and opinion-shapers of the international community. With little time left in the election campaign, the Socialists must put aside reminiscences and naïveté in their relations with the diplomatic missions that genuinely monitor Albanian politics and, as they have done until now, bring its results to a close.

At Dritan’s home page 7 Erieta Avdyli with her father-in-law, mother-in-law and sister-in-law

The flight of money page 14

Analysis/Servet Pëllumbi pages 16–17