- Statement of the Steering Committee of the Democratic Party - Under the harsh conditions of terror, repression, manipulation and countless machinations, the democratic forces in Albania achieved their first electoral victory. This victory, naturally not complete in quantitative terms, was a great political victory, a qualitative victory. Tirana, the beloved capital of all Albanians, voted for the Democratic Party, as did Shkodra, home of the great geniuses of the Albanian nation; Vlora, of the flag and independence; Kruja, of Skanderbeg; Korça, of the great Democrats; Elbasan, of Kristoforidhi; and Kavaja, the initiator of democratic processes in Albania. Hundreds of thousands of other Albanians in all the towns and villages of our country voted for the Democratic Party. The specific weight of this victory is incomparable. The election campaign was conducted under wholly unequal conditions. Censorship of the Marxist-Leninist kind, the last of its kind in civilized Europe, was imposed on our means of communication—television and radio—by the Director General and the Central Committee of the PPSH. Our limited resources and the information blackout naturally made the Democratic Party’s work more difficult. As a result, the Democratic Party was unable to explain its program properly in a number of villages and localities around the country. Nevertheless, the DP is confident that the day is not far off when our brothers will vote freely and without fear, and will be freed from the anxieties of a past era. (Continued on page 5)

- Pluralist elections are in themselves a victory for everyone. - - My wish: May voters have voted to put an end to the country’s all-encompassing crisis, not to prolong it. - - My hope: May the irreversible process of democracy reconcile, in favor of progress, the advanced civic consciences with those that are backward. - - My conviction: The qualitative victory of the DP in the large cities with cultural and democratic traditions, such as Shkodër, Tiranë, Elbasan, Durrës, Vlorë and Korçë, will sooner or later become the face of Albanian democracy. - The long-awaited elections of 31 March excluded most of the participating entities from the immediate contest, leaving two main political forces to compete. The 50-year-old PPSH, with its failed Bolshevik legacy and a new, adapted and reformed program, and the Democratic Party, with leading figures or new members of this Party such as Ramiz Alia, Spiro Dedeës, Skënder Gjinushi, Muhamed Kapllanil, Aleks Luarasit, Robert Kolit, etc. Let us see how the current prime minister, Fatos Nano, fares in the second round. They were unable to secure enough votes in the capital, where they had also put forward their candidates and where the voters’ political consciousness was most enlightened by the light of the European future. Although I am in opposition to the PPSH, I feel no joy at the defeat of its reformist wing, and I do not know how much this fact dims the triumph of the communist electorate. But the voters’ will wanted it this way. The will of the voters concerned wanted Haxhi Lleshi, Adil Çarçani, Kiço Mustafa or some first secretary of the party in a district to go to Parliament—someone notable for openly anti-democratic sentiments. In my opinion, the PPSH’s first secretary, Ramiz Alia ... sacrificed himself as a candidate when he delivered an unbelievable and unacceptable speech to his cultured electorate at the Palace of Congresses, which apparently was absent from the hall. Nevertheless, the forceful rhetoric and gestures still find a market elsewhere, and it was no accident that Radio Kukësi rebroadcast his speech several times on Saturday, thereby arbitrarily violating the rule prohibiting election propaganda on the day before the elections. The list of violations and manipulations is still not complete. Let us say On March 31, most of the participating political forces were excluded from the contest, leaving the two main political forces in the field of competition: the 50-year-old PPSH, with a discredited Bolshevik legacy and a new, partially reformed program, and the three-month-old Democratic Party, with a Western European program that also takes the country’s specific conditions into account. The complete and final election results have not yet been announced; nevertheless, it is known that numerically the PPSH has won a majority of seats nationwide, while the PD has won a majority, if not all, of the seats in the cities of Tiranë, Shkodër, Korçë, Durrës, Vlorë and Elbasan. The PPSH is pleased with this victory, its majority in the new pluralist parliament, even though the danger of cut ballots has caused the path toward the formation of the highest state body to slip... In Shkodër and Kavajë. Tirana seems to have been calm, as if it were waiting. At the time, indignant voices were heard saying that Tirana, with the highest level of awareness, Tirana of the ministries, of the parliamentarians, of the ...

- Albanian democracy fully deserves the vote of the Capital - From time to time I have been seized by the desire—a desire accepted and yielded to by many writers—to write something about Tirana, about Tirana as the heart of the country’s intellectual and political life, but a feeling of negation has held me back. Old desires reappear with renewed force, to which one submits willingly or unwillingly. It may seem somewhat paradoxical, but this happened to me precisely at the beginning of April 1991, the year that raised democracy to the highest platform, the legislative one. Now, thanks to the vote of confidence given to it by the people, democracy will speak and take part in drafting and approving laws, even if only as the opposition. We all remember the time when movements to democratize the life of the country began in Shkodër and Kavaja. Tirana seemed calm, as if waiting. At the time, indignant voices said that my Tirana—the Tirana with the highest standard of living, the Tirana of ministries, parks, loves and boulevards, the Tirana of universities and academics—had no reason to rise up, had nothing more to ask for. It was said that “good fortune” makes you complacent, takes away the bile of revolt... But that was not at all the case. We had been mistaken. Tirana had not been lulled. We woke up on 2 July. Confused, like anyone who wakes from a long, heavy sleep, as if drugged by the oppressive pressure of the totalitarian system. It played the “game” of retreat with the embassies. It suffered the profound human wound of the first mass exodus of its children. Meanwhile, at the University, precisely where people had fought to mold the new man with communist ideals, the student movement began. The flower of youth, with culture and prudence—two weapons before which dictatorships often prove powerless and are shaken—gave voice to its age-old dream, shared by generations of intellectuals, of pluralism; it brought about the first opposition in postwar Albania. No one can forget those days when all the citizens of Tirana became one body alongside the students. For three months Tirana rapidly attended the difficult school of democracy. The first miners’ strikes, the creation of free and independent trade unions. Then came the events of mid-February. In the name of freedom, the student movement shook Tirana, and Tirana, now fully galvanized, acted as one body. The final veneer was stripped from the state propaganda and that of the ruling Party—the veneer of the very “shining beacon to the world,” an invincible stronghold on the shores of the Adriatic. Government figures themselves were forced to acknowledge the economy’s deteriorating condition, even that we had debts. Thanks to the opposition’s real pressure, the ruling Party itself hurried to make substantial reforms to its program. Only for the election campaign? Time will tell. And it was also thanks to the opposition’s pressure that the first pluralist elections became possible... Thank you, Tirana! Tirana, where the first opposition newspaper was printed and published; Tirana, which faced with civic spirit and culture the most unexpected provocations, devised in laboratories seeking mass confrontations, perhaps with national responsibility at stake. The difficult road to democracy warns us of new and unprecedented turns for the parties. Tirana, the heart of Albania, the city that must avoid the traps of repeatedly provoked excesses, will know how once again to face them calmly and with culture, without painful and irresponsible confrontations. After all, let us not forget that the hardest part—the breaking of the path—has been accomplished. And it was accomplished in a way befitting Tirana of the university, Tirana of the Academy of Sciences and of its many institutions. Tirana reborn. Let the unbroken bustle of its neighborhoods and squares, its parks on quiet evenings, life itself... bear witness to this. The time has come for democracy to speak. Tirana can speak first. 1 April 1991. AGIM ISAKU To everyone’s surprise, the dictatorship often proved powerless and was shaken; it legitimized its own old dream, and that of generations of intellectuals, of pluralism; it legitimized the first opposition in postwar Albania. Nobody...

Thank you, Tirana!

LENIN: “GENTLEMEN! FIND IT, BUT DON’T GO TOO FAR” PRESIDENT: “We have neither wasted time nor squandered any opportunity or resource for development.” PRIME MINISTER: “The Albanian economy is going through a severe crisis.” PRESIDENT: “We look to the future with optimism. We are a country without debts.” PRIME MINISTER: “Our country has debts of 350 million dollars.” PRESIDENT: “We have neither wasted time nor squandered any opportunity or resource for development.” PRIME MINISTER: “The Albanian economy is going through a severe crisis.” PRESIDENT: “We look to the future with optimism. We are a country without debts.” PRIME MINISTER: “Our country has debts of 350 million dollars.” The election battle is over. The President lost, defeated by a capable engineer, but an amateur in politics. The Prime Minister came in second. His success brings to mind Pyrrhus’s victory. The people of the capital showed how quickly they had adopted the principles of the new democracy. Every candidate, whether a president or an ordinary nobody, is faced with the alternative: win or lose. Once and for all, the national comedy and tragedy have come to an end. The people used to vote 99.99 percent for the candidate of the Democratic Front (read: the PP). The victorious deputies used to agree 100 percent with the decisions of the Central Committee of the PP! The President and the Prime Minister held their election campaigns. Nothing extraordinary. They are already familiar. They have been published in the party organs. They have been broadcast on radio and television. You understand that this is the right... The Prime Minister had a space to speak... because, as the saying goes, whoever has power makes the law. Since there is nothing to be gained by highlighting the differences in their election campaigns, we have no choice but to make a comment. Their speeches and conversations were threaded throughout with Marxist ideology. And this is understandable. They are leaders of a party. They cannot be faulted for that. But one fact is surprising: on several points, the Prime Minister contradicts the President. If this were a display of democracy within the ranks of the PP—bravo! Only, it is doubtful... Perhaps we should speak in facts instead, because someone might think: “The opposition is making a mountain out of a molehill.” President Ramiz Alia, at a meeting with voters in his constituency (in fact, guests had been invited from all over Tirana), declared that the socialist mode of production and the economic policy we chose had brought material progress to every sector of the country. Thanks to the people’s work, our country became richer in every... In general, we have a profitable economy... The Prime Minister, on the other hand, declares that the economy is in crisis. I don’t think he says this out of wit. He says it in conversations with voters. He also says it in numerous interviews with foreign journalists. So whom should we believe? The old custom, the 45-year tradition, advises us to believe the President. He is the leader of the PP and of the people. Reality—unemployment, food shortages, mass emigration, high prices, low wages—instinctively makes us believe the Prime Minister. There is only one thing I don’t understand: how do they justify breaking all the mother’s advice that allows such discrepancies, unheard of in this half-century! For the hundredth time, the President declared: country without debts.” The official statistics say so too. But, Mr. Prime Minister, one fine day in March you gave the Albanian people a “gift”: “Our country has debts of 350 million dollars.” So whom should we believe now: the President, an experienced statesman, or the Prime Minister, who, considering his time in power, is an amateur in politics! I don’t know; the people will judge. As an economist profitable economy...

- THREE PEOPLE WERE KILLED IN SHKODËR: ARBEN BROCI, A MEMBER OF THE LEADERSHIP COMMISSION OF THE PD BRANCH IN SHKODËR, AND THE 24-YEAR-OLDS ILIR LESHANAKU AND BESNIK CEKA. - 58 PEOPLE WERE INJURED. - A LARGE QUANTITY OF WEAPONS AND AMMUNITION WAS FOUND AT THE LABOUR PARTY COMMITTEE OF THE SHKODËR DISTRICT. - THE CHIEF OF POLICE DECLARED: IF THE PEOPLE BARRICADED INSIDE THE PARTY COMMITTEE BUILDING DO NOT COME OUT, THEN HE WILL ORDER THE BUILDING TO BE BLOWN UP. - AZEM HAJDARI, A MEMBER OF THE PD LEADERSHIP COMMISSION, APPEALS FOR CALM ON RADIO SHKODRA. ROBERT KOLI’S REPORT THAT AZEM HAJDARI CAUSED THE DEMONSTRATION IS A COMPLETE FABRICATION: HE WAS NOT IN SHKODËR AT THE TIME OF THE DEMONSTRATION. - YESTERDAY, AROUND 30,000 PEOPLE DEMONSTRATED IN THE CITY OF SHKODËR. - THREE PEOPLE WERE KILLED IN SHKODËR: ARBEN BROCI, A MEMBER OF THE LEADERSHIP COMMISSION OF THE PD BRANCH IN SHKODËR, AND THE 24-YEAR-OLDS ILIR LESHANAKU AND BESNIK CEKA. - 58 PEOPLE WERE INJURED. - A LARGE QUANTITY OF WEAPONS AND AMMUNITION WAS FOUND AT THE LABOUR PARTY COMMITTEE OF THE SHKODËR DISTRICT. - THE CHIEF OF POLICE DECLARED: IF THE PEOPLE BARRICADED INSIDE THE PARTY COMMITTEE BUILDING DO NOT COME OUT, THEN HE WILL ORDER THE BUILDING TO BE BLOWN UP. - AZEM HAJDARI, A MEMBER OF THE PD LEADERSHIP COMMISSION, APPEALS FOR CALM ON RADIO SHKODRA. ROBERT KOLI’S REPORT THAT AZEM HAJDARI CAUSED THE DEMONSTRATION IS A COMPLETE FABRICATION: HE WAS NOT IN SHKODËR AT THE TIME OF THE DEMONSTRATION. - YESTERDAY, AROUND 30,000 PEOPLE DEMONSTRATED IN THE CITY OF SHKODËR. (FROM THE PD PRESS CONFERENCE HELD YESTERDAY AT 16:00) As soon as the first officially unconfirmed rumors about the election results spread, the people of Shkodër were surprised and shaken. They did not pay them much attention, especially since we are living in an age when rumors are flourishing. But after the official results were announced, reports of widespread election rigging at many polling stations in the city and countryside spread rapidly. Psychological and physical pressure was used to force people to vote for the PP; resentment quickly turned to fury. Just as the PP had deceived people for 46 years, it deceived many of them again on March 31. All day Monday, there were mass but peaceful demonstrations in the city of Shkodër. Yesterday, starting at 7 o’clock, hundreds of students from the “Jordan Misja” and “29 Nëntori” secondary schools, together with hundreds of other townspeople and villagers, gathered in front of the district PP committee building and staged a sit-down demonstration in the square. But heavy forces attacked them from every direction, beating them with rubber truncheons and firing revolvers, automatic weapons and machine guns. The “defenders of freedom and democracy” were supported in this “legendary” battle against unarmed people even by tanks. To calm the people, Arben Broci, a member of the district PD leadership commission, addressed them. As he spoke through a megaphone, telling them to disperse, one of the policemen standing some distance away fired a burst from his automatic weapon, killing this worthy and brave citizen of Shkodër and adding a new martyr to our struggle for democracy. Arben’s killing further enraged the people, who retaliated against the security forces with whatever they could find, including stones lying around. In this clash, the 24-year-olds Ilir Leshanaku and Besnik Ceka were killed; Besnik Kryeziu and Çlirimi Bajri were seriously wounded, with little hope of survival; and 58 others were injured. The demonstrators then con- (Continued on page 2)

BERAT. In electoral zone No. 5 (Kuçovë), voting at one polling station began at 5:15, without the PD representative being present on the Commission. TIRANA. Zone 221, polling station No. 10: a number of voters (4 people) did not have their names on the list. The unregistered individuals had previously enquired with the council chairman, yet their names were still not added. The names of the unregistered individuals are: Arben and Valdete Bejleri. MAQELLARE, 10:00. The zone commission did not fill in the ballot papers itself, but handed them out blank in this state, passing them from hand to hand. Most of the commission members are communists. Changes were made to polling-station commissions after the permitted deadline. Around 40 Roma live in the village of Doshisht and are not registered. Their request to be registered received this response from the village council chairman: “We will register you if you vote for the PP.” The representatives of the authorities took no position. - In the villages of Vladomeric and Maxhicë, zones 26 and 24, there was shouting by communists and various forms of pressure inside the polling room. TIRANA. In the zone where Napolon Roshin is a candidate, at 10:30 voting was suspended because some ballot papers were invalid. TIRANA. Zone 218. IFA vehicles carrying soldiers were distributed to many polling stations to vote. Zone 208. Polling station No. 9: the PD commission member found that around 100 ballot papers had no official stamp. LAÇ, 8:00. Reports from many polling stations say that many people, especially young people, have not been registered on the voter lists. Today, the police, in a ... manner, confiscated a number of posters opposing it, using brutal conduct. LIBRAZHD. In Përrenjas, people are voting outside the polling stations (they take the ballot papers and go outside). TIRANA. In zone 208 (polling station at the Party Committee of Regional Branch 4), ballot papers without a stamp were distributed. The female commission member has closed the polling station and is waiting (even one— (Continued on page 2)