The Socialists and their allies consider the PD’s demands for entering the runoff impossible to fulfill. Meanwhile, Berisha refuses to compete on 15 October PSD and PAD: There is no legal basis for changing the election date and the CEC The Socialists and their allies consider the PD’s demands for entering the runoff impossible to fulfill. Meanwhile, Berisha refuses to compete on 15 October Ruçi: We will enter the runoff even without the PD PSD and PAD: There is no legal basis for changing the election date and the CEC page 3

Tolerance and freedom of thought in the PS are at a high level of democracy, whereas in the opposing camp, the PD, the leader’s arbitrariness remains at the same level throughout these ten years, so much so that the ranks of the Democrats are steadily losing intellectuals who flee in haste from

Tolerance and freedom of thought in the PS are at a high level of democracy, whereas in the opposing camp, the PD, the leader’s arbitrariness remains at the same level of the Democrats are increasingly depleted of intellectuals who flee this party in haste. If Nano remains what he has always been, that is, an extreme liberal, Berisha is sliding into harsh authoritarianism, which risks turning this party from an opposition party into a Berishian military unit. There are many founders and well-known figures who have abandoned or been driven out of the PD during these 10 years of Democracy, such as Gramoz Pashko or Neritan Ceka, Preç Zogaj or Frok Çupi, Dashamir Shehu or Genc Pollo, Ylli Vejsiu or Albert Brojka, not forgetting Eduard Selami, Tritan Shehu, Alfred Serreqi, etc. And we could go on listing others who have already left Albania or no longer want to see Berisha’s face. At its heart, this constitutes a tragedy for the largest opposition party—or, in other words, the party that brought democracy to Europe’s poorest country. Naturally, to be a member of a political party, you must follow its rules, but above all, you must feel free in your thoughts and express them freely; in other words, you must not face the party chairman’s cudgel, as, unfortunately, happens in the PD. Things look different in the Socialist camp: Nano appears in Korçë on the same platform as Servet Pëllumbi and Pandeli Majko, his old “enemies”; in Shkodër, Nano and Meta, the two opposing “lions,” shake hands; in Malakastër, Kastrinot Islami steps forward and welcomes his new “enemy,” the party leader; in Brussels, Arta Dade defends the Socialist cause alongside the man who removed her from the post of Minister of Culture, who is once again called Fatos Nano; in Tirana, Spartak Poçi has his morning coffee with his party leader; in other words, all together and all against one another, but under the same Socialist roof. (Continued on page 2)

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