The new elections to the People's Assembly are the first free elections to be held in Albania within a multiparty system, after a 46-year period of rule by a single Party. Our country has remained the poorest country in Europe. The living standard of Albanians ranks among the lowest even among developing countries. The centralized economic system has brought the country to the brink of collapse. The lack of efficiency in industry and the ruin of the countryside are the most visible consequences of this system. Food rationing, shortages of consumer goods, and the emigration of Albanians have become the visible wounds of a reality that can no longer be concealed. The country is going through a deep crisis. Economic and social catastrophe is imminent. The Democratic Party believes that Albania's entire political, economic, and socio-economic system must be radically transformed in order to make it possible for Albania to become a modern and democratic country. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY PLEDGES TO YOU THAT IT WILL DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO FIGHT THE TRAGEDY THREATENING THE ALBANIAN PEOPLE. IN THE POLITICAL FIELD The Democratic Party has set the following objectives, aimed at fighting for the establishment of a state governed by the rule of law in Albania and the full introduction of democracy. To this end: 1) To fight for the preservation of the independence, territorial integrity, and sovereignty of the Albanian people; to strengthen national unity; and to fulfill the wishes and aspirations of the Albanian people for a pluralist, democratic, and modern society. 2) To fully realize the democratic freedoms and fundamental rights recognized by international human-rights instruments, such as the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Helsinki Final Act, the Copenhagen Concluding Document, the Paris Charter, and the other CSCE instruments. The Democratic Party will fight for the drafting and implementation of democratic legislation; for the realization of pluralist parliamentary democracy and its institutions; for the creation of a state governed by the rule of law, social justice, and equality for every individual arising from the laws; for the separation of parties from the state; for the right to accurate information and a free press; and for making all state activity subject to the Constitution of the Albanian state and other laws. 3) To immediately depoliticize the state apparatus, the army, law-enforcement bodies, and the judiciary. 4) In its foreign policy, the Democratic Party will be guided by the principles of the CSCE and will work for Albania's full integration into Europe's democratic processes, supporting the implementation of the 10 points of the Helsinki Final Act. To this end, it will work to enhance the political, economic, and cultural dignity of the Albanian nation in the international arena through active relations based on non-interference in internal affairs and mutual cooperation with all the countries of the world. The Democratic Party will pursue a priority policy of good-neighborliness, based on the defense of national interests in the Balkans and beyond. It will also fight for the drafting of a new policy of the Albanian state regarding the Albanian question, and for the fulfillment of the Albanian people's aspirations for unity and progress, in accordance with the international documents of the UN and the CSCE. The Democratic Party will strive to make the Balkans an example of peace and understanding among peoples. It will call for the free movement of people, goods, and services without visas or other restrictive barriers in the Balkan region. 5) The Democratic Party defends the legitimate demands of all Albanians in their territories outside the People's Socialist Republic of Albania. The Democratic Party supports the people of Kosovo's struggle for self-determination. 6) The Democratic Party recognizes for all national minorities the same rights as those enjoyed by other citizens. It will strive to enable them to preserve their ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious identity, to develop their own culture, and to be protected from any attempt at assimilation. Minorities are recognized as having the right to use their own language, to have their own educational institutions at all levels, to practice their religion, and to establish independent organizations and associations, in accordance with all the requirements concerning minorities contained in CSCE documents. The Democratic Party will demand that individuals belonging to national minorities be allowed to register freely as such. The Democratic Party will fight for national minorities to decide their future without the mediation of the central authorities, whether those concerned are inside or outside the country, among people of the same origin. 7) The Democratic Party recognizes freedom of belief, the right to practice religion, the right to religious institutions, and the right to establish religious communities, locally and throughout the country's territory, in accordance with each faith's tradition. 8) The Democratic Party considers the army a guarantee for safeguarding the freedom of the Albanian state. It will work to improve its technical and military level and raise the quality of military training to contemporary standards. At the same time, the Democratic Party will seek to shorten the term of military service and establish alternative forms of service in cases of conscientious objection. It believes it is necessary to immediately introduce distinguishing insignia and ranks for the army's command staff. 9) The Democratic Party will fight for the free movement of citizens within and outside the country, including their departure and return. To this end, it believes the practice of issuing passports should be simplified and brought into line with European standards, both with regard to the time taken to issue them and their validity period, and with regard to providing for entry and exit visas. The Democratic Party supports free entry, without hindrance from visas or other rules, for foreign citizens of Albanian nationality.

The Democratic Party supports improving the regulations of Albanian legislation concerning the movement of foreigners within the territory of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, in accordance with the instruments of the Helsinki Conference. In the economic field, the Democratic Party will work to address and overcome the economic crisis as quickly as possible and to restructure the country's economy. I To address the crisis, the Democratic Party calls for: 1. The immediate suspension of exports of food products and the declaration of an urgent campaign to obtain food aid and essential consumer goods from abroad, in order to stabilize the market situation. A fundamental and immediate revision of the legislation to enable such a campaign, including amendments to the Constitution, the Civil Code, the customs law, the tax system, etc. This should aim to facilitate, as soon as possible, the entry of capital and goods from foreign individuals, firms, or state organizations. 2. The adoption of urgent legal and economic measures to encourage the establishment of enterprises by individuals and groups of individuals in all areas of the economy, industry, agriculture, and services. Small and medium-sized enterprises will be favored first and foremost. 3. The immediate suspension of all luxury investments and imports, in order to concentrate available resources. The immediate distribution of the wealth of Pritjes. 4. The immediate suspension of all investments already begun whose payback period exceeds four to five years. II To carry out the restructuring, work will proceed in the following directions: 1. Legal parameters will be established to permit and protect private property. These principles will be incorporated throughout the legal system and written into the Constitution. The legally equal right to property for all will be protected by the Supreme Court. Re-privatization, i.e. the return of property to its former owners, who were expropriated before 1945, will be regulated by law. All regulations and service systems at border crossing points will be immediately improved to ensure the free movement of goods and people. 16. A realistic price policy without distortions will be introduced as a necessary step toward currency convertibility. Price subsidies will be eliminated, and it will be ensured that prices are determined by supply and demand in the market, while also aiming to bring them closer to world-market prices. 17. In accordance with the country's interests, the integration of the Albanian economy into the international economic and financial system will be developed, respecting internationally recognized rules and accepting both the discipline and the benefits that follow from them. An immediate application will be made for Albania to be admitted as a member of all international economic, trade, and financial institutions. 18. The following will be ensured: freedom of direct contact between domestic and foreign businesspeople at all levels of trade and throughout industry and among end users; easier entry and residence in our country for businesspeople; easier establishment of offices and the granting of trade licenses without discrimination; the removal of governing powers from the government or other state bodies, leaving enterprises and individuals free to take these actions in accordance with the legal system in force; and easier access to infrastructure and telecommunications, and the direct hiring of personnel by foreign firms. 19. Priority will be given to businesses conducted by people of Albanian nationality who reside abroad. Financial and tax concessions will be created for their investments. 20. Work will be undertaken to facilitate the mutual exchange of economic information by immediately restructuring the statistical apparatus, publishing data, and bringing it into line with international standards. 21. Immediate admission of our country will be sought to all institutions and various networks providing economic consulting and information services. 22. Priority will be given to the development of infrastructure, such as roads and other forms of transport—air and sea—as well as telecommunications and other services. Foreign capital will be attracted for these purposes. 23. Workers will have the right to freely choose their workplace according to their individual abilities. 24. Social wage policy will aim to enable wages to keep pace with changes in food and everyday consumer goods, so that the standard of living is not affected, and to ensure their steady growth in line with the growth of social production; it will aim to bring today's wage levels closer to average European levels. 25. Efforts will be made to add one paid day off per week, with the aim of reaching a 40-hour working week for every employee. Workers will be paid for official holidays (civil or religious). All employees will be granted no less than one additional month's salary for the holiday period. 26. Economic reform and the restructuring of the administration will aim to soften its immediate economic effects on the existing standard of living.

excluded by law. 2. Individuals will have the right to freely sell and buy property. Individuals will have the right to immediate, fair, and effective compensation if private property is taken for public use. 3. The process of privatizing the economy will begin, and will proceed gradually. The state must provide legal, financial, and fiscal support, while safeguarding the interests of individuals alongside the public interest. 4. Privatization must begin with employees' personal homes. These will be given to citizens free of charge. 5. Small units such as shops, kiosks, bars and restaurants, workshops, and service units will be immediately privatized in return for payment. 6. Subsidies to large state monopoly-type enterprises will be removed, and they will be divided into smaller units. 7. A system of assistance or subsidies will be immediately established for workers made unemployed by enterprises that go bankrupt. It will maintain the unemployed at a decent standard of living until their situation is normalized in other sectors. Work will be undertaken to retrain young unemployed people, and pensions will be provided for elderly unemployed people. 8. A wage compensation system will be established to respond to every increase in the prices of basic necessities. 9. The state will undertake the expansion and fundamental improvement of technical and vocational education, as well as economic-management education under market-economy conditions, and the qualitative development of science and research in these fields. 9. State enterprises will be converted into joint-stock companies. Workers should become co-owners of the enterprises. They will be given shares free of charge, while shares will be sold at differentiated prices to other people, including foreigners. Shareholders will have the right to receive the profits provided by their shares and to manage and sell them at the price determined by the share exchange rate. A capital market and a stock exchange will be established. 10. Immediate priority development of all industries producing and processing food and clothing for the people. Investment and cooperation in this field will be encouraged, particularly those carried out through small and medium-sized enterprises. Such encouragement will take foreign capital into account when it invests in producing for and expanding the Albanian domestic market, first and foremost in food and consumer goods. 11. Work will be undertaken to completely reform the banking system and create a financial market. The aim will be to establish a network of independent banks throughout the country to encourage lending. A consumer-credit system will be introduced to make it easier for people to arrange financing for long-term consumer goods, such as household electrical appliances, housing, etc. 12. The credit and tax systems will favor small and medium-sized enterprises, whether private or collective, in accordance with the national economic development strategy. 13. Monetary policy will aim to control the amount of money in circulation through the central bank. A single exchange rate will be established for all sectors of the economy, reflecting the market value. An official foreign-exchange market will be created for this purpose. 14. The state's monopoly over foreign trade will be abolished and conditions for free foreign trade will be created. This will be achieved by removing customs barriers. 15. Development of a domestic policy that creates conditions for a free market, free movement of capital, and growth, with initial differentiation for foreign investors, in convertible currency.

POLICY FOR THE RESTRUCTURING OF THE VILLAGE The Democratic Party believes that a discriminatory policy has been applied toward the Albanian countryside, creating economic distortions and a wide gap between the village and the city in terms of prosperity and way of life. The state of the dictatorship of the proletariat has misused the countryside, continually secured revenues and accumulations from it, and done very little to improve conditions in the countryside. Farmers’ debts to the public sector are much greater. The Democratic Party believes that this entails a major obligation for the Albanian state to make the countryside a priority in the future, returning to farmers everything taken from them through collectivization. In order to bring about a fundamental improvement in village life, the full emancipation of the peasantry, and the elimination of the differences between village and city, as in every civilized country, the Democratic Party intends to take the following measures: 1. It will strive to ensure that the peasantry participates genuinely and directly in the country’s political and social life. 2. The Democratic Party bases its policy for the countryside on taking priority decisions to facilitate every citizen’s free choice (whether city-dweller or farmer) of their place of residence, without prejudice to the rural population’s right to live in the city. It will seek to put an immediate end to all bureaucratic rules concerning passport registration that obstruct the free movement of the population and the free choice of residence. It will make it easier for farmers to settle in the city. 3. The employment of farmers in cities or urban work centers, according to each person’s abilities, will be encouraged. Efforts will be made to employ them by developing infrastructure such as roads, highways, railways, tourist villages, and the services connected with them. This will be done by establishing a more favorable remuneration system in these sectors. 4. Farmers’ right to emigrate abroad will be respected. 5. The Democratic Party will strive to make it possible to develop the following forms of ownership in the countryside on a voluntary basis: - individual ownership (by family or household) - group ownership (by groups of families, neighborhoods, and villages) - state ownership. To this end, the Democratic Party will give farmers the opportunity to choose voluntarily what they want, on the basis of meetings or local referendums. 6. The Democratic Party will work to introduce a law on individual land ownership, according to which land belongs to the person who works it and which must provide for: (Continued on page 2)