Electoral headquarters chief Çlirim Muka is threatened with murder and the destruction of his kiosk if he continues working with the independent candidate Electoral scandal erupts in Vlora. Socialists threaten to blow up the electoral headquarters of their independent rival Vladimir Fejzo page 6

BY ENTON ABILEKAJ The electoral rain tried yesterday, too, to put out the fire of Serbia’s war with the West. Until late in the evening, the wet streets carried passengers returning to their homes to vote as never before in their lives. It is still a long way off from the day when elections

The chairman of the Tirana Democrats expresses his party’s opposition to Giovani Porta’s statement

By Enton Abilekaj the day when elections in Serbia will be viewed with the pragmatism with which we view them in Albania. There, people are voting today as they did on 31 March 1991 in Albania, perhaps a little better and a little worse. A little better because of the idealism of those who have understood what is going away, and a little worse because of their ability to exert influence through their voice and vote. A great change has been achieved up to this point. Those harsh people, who until a year ago never doubted their political and racial rights, those people indifferent to what was happening outside the walls Slobodan built, today feel the weakness of blind faith, the disadvantage of the war the regime nurtured (and which they savoured), and anxiety about their fate. Outside Serbia’s borders, throughout the Balkans, memories are being refreshed. After the fall of communism, almost all Balkan countries experienced a new regime, similar to the one in Serbia today. Albania and Croatia were the penultimate two countries to suffer regimes that threatened the free vote and the dream of integration. Today, the threat still lives in Tirana, unlike in Croatia, where it has died. Today in Tirana there is once again someone whose shadow of vote-rigging hangs over everything, while everyone has their mind on the rigging by official Belgrade. It is not raining in Tirana. The world is welcoming the free and peaceful elections with attention; they are now threatened only by the one who was used to stealing them when he was in power. He raised an alarm that proved to be pointless; he inflamed the situation so that no one could look beyond it. Above all, he is doing everything possible to postpone the date, creating the impression that democratic standards cannot exist in the Albanian states. The rest of Albania is watching Serbia closely today. Tomorrow, another member may join the small Europe taking shape in the southeast of the Continent. Regimes of war and tension are being struck down not only by the vote, but also by the democratic world, which has now openly decided to safeguard people before they decide their historical future.

Melo and Dade, together for the local elections

spokesperson as the Government spokesperson Minarolli: “I think Giovani Porta took Thoma Gëllçi’s place yesterday, because this time it wasn’t Thomai who spoke, but Giovani Porta” page 5

Humor by Filip Çakuli pages 30–31