Meta, a challenge to Fatos Nano in the Socialist Party
The prime minister is gaining an undisputed reputation in the Socialist Party for his results-oriented, strong-handed way of governing the country
In most Socialist Party conferences in the districts, the anti-Nano and pro-Meta and pro-Majko factions have won. The socialist leader’s militant MPs have lost decisively in the voting
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Nano and the road back home
The triumph of Musa Ulqini in the battle for the leadership of the Socialist Party in Tirana, following the victories of the “anti-Nanoists” in Durrës, Vlorë, Shkodër, Lezhë and several other important cities, finally confirmed the majority’s assumption regarding Fatos Nano’s precarious position and his role in the party.
By now, most members of the Socialist Party’s General Steering Committee are against Nano, and it is possible that the battles between him and the anti-Nano faction will be fierce before, during and after the congress. The challenge posed by the Tirana Conference is a powerful slap to the chairman’s face, as it showed that he has definitively lost the capital. Losing Tirana means that most intellectuals, young people, civil society and the most sensitive segment of the Socialist Party’s new politicians do not want Nano or his way of leading. The defeat of the Socialist Party chairman’s militant MPs at district conferences—Bardhyl Agasi in Durrës, Luiza Hoxha in Vlorë, Dashamir Dini in Shkodër, Prend Marku in Lezhë, and Limoz Dizdari and Enver Reçi in Tirana—sends the clearest signal that the socialist grassroots have become disillusioned with the politics and the way Nano plays politics. They are also disillusioned by the fact that their leader makes compromises at the expense of the socialist grassroots. But this means that Prime Minister Meta is rising rapidly, reaching very high standing in socialist circles, thanks to his abilities and his new approach to the state administration. In this way, as the year marking Nano’s return to the leadership of the Socialist Party is now drawing to a close, all those who supported him in that arduous battle are now weighed down by disappointment of tragic proportions. In most cases, this disappointment has reached the point where even some of the socialist chairman’s fanatical supporters have turned against him. (continued on page 2)
Prime Minister Ilir Meta, former Prime Minister Nano and former Prime Minister Majko yesterday, in a moment of formal solidarity before President Meidani
Photo: P. ILO
