Once again, on 26 July, Kavaja showed that it fully deserves to be called the standard-bearer of democracy. It had the highest turnout and the highest number of votes for the PD, both in the town and in the countryside. In this way, it dealt another crushing defeat to the PS, which in Kavaja continues to count its members on its fingers. During the election campaign, the PS in this district too threw many old and new commissars into the battle, seeking to darken the rays of hope and trust with a whole heap of slander, gossip and promises. They dreamed—and are doing everything they can—to lower the flag of democracy right in its own home. At the head of the campaign stood a group of newcomers. If they could manage to deceive Kavaja and win it over, it would be easier for them in the other towns and areas. It was no coincidence that “ZP” also published an article trumpeting, with the joy of someone who had supposedly discovered America or authentic socialism, that “the political climate in Kavaja has changed.” Naturally, the shameless ones could hardly wait for 26 July to receive the answer they deserved from the Socialist fortune-tellers. Kavaja is not deceived by the communists-socialists; it has proved this and will remain true to the PD and Democracy. It is convinced that four months are far too little time to save people once and for all from the communist-socialist hell. Naturally, like the whole country, it too has many problems and shortages, but it knows well that it inherited them from the PS and Fatos Nano. It puts up with them patiently and with great hope. It is not governed on the basis of “If you don’t give me a bottle of oil, a kilo of sugar and a bar of soap, I won’t give you my vote,” because it is convinced that Democracy is priceless. And Democracy will not forget it and will soon reward it for everything it has done and is doing for it.

The offspring of the dictatorship cannot reconcile themselves to democracy On 28 July, comrade Nano held a so-called press conference at the Palace of Congresses. The phenomenon observed at this kind of conference is highly significant: the display of extreme aggression by the socialists, who are being blocked at every turn and have only just begun to taste power. Power has clouded their reason for nearly a thousand years, and political blindness, it seems, has no hope of recovery. In keeping with this passionate, indeed hysterical, atmosphere, comrade Nano let loose, together with his neocommunists, the demagoguery and speculation of a first-class trickster. From the outset, Nano spoke of what he described as “the need to restore the balance in Albanian society.” But to restore something in the country means accepting that its balance has been overturned into a position that someone wants to repeat. So when has there ever been political balance in Albania? Under the dictatorship, or even afterwards, after the elections of 31 March, as a result of which the Party of Labour remained in power in Albania?! It is clear that these monsters destroyed the balance, and comrade Nano wants to restore what the history of democracy has brought about. This is precisely because Albania has never had this “balance” before. The chairman of the PS also spoke of “political cooperation between the serious political forces that the people have valued both on 22 March and on 26 July.” Which serious force is Nano talking about, when the PD has been denigrated as fascist by his socialist rulers? Is he going to cooperate with fascists for democracy in Albania? Absurdities cannot be taken for seriousness or sound judgment. At the press conference, Nano himself continued to smear the PD and democratic government. He described the election results as a reaction against the resolution of a new dictatorship. But, Mr Nano, according to this logic, what dictatorship were the results of 22 March against? The old dictatorship, of which you were a part; the killings and the bloodshed in Shkodër and elsewhere, when you were prime minister; the dictatorship that destroyed Albania and continued its savage assault on democracy, which was advancing like a hurricane under the leadership of the Democratic Party. With incoherent reasoning, incapable of maintaining a continuity of thought, one cannot get far, comrade Nano. According to Nano, the latest elections were “oriented towards respecting totalitarianism.” First, it must be said that the elections did not produce a result of 99.99 percent, which would justify calling them rigged, as Mr Nano does, unable to free himself from the mentality of a bygone era. Second, where does Nano place the voters who did not vote for the PS, who are by no means negligible, especially in the main cities? Always according to the communist mentality: either with him or against him. So this large part of the electorate voted for totalitarianism? This is how the poison of division and hostility is spread within families, society, workplaces, and so on. It is the same antidemocratic method that the whole of “neocommunism” has pursued to retain its privileged positions in power, under the motto: “divide and rule.” At the Institute of Marxism-Leninism, Nano thoroughly learned this lesson from Enver and Nexhmije. To cover up this truth, Nano also spoke of national reconciliation and of the equality of all Albanians in every respect. But no one can forget that it was not others, but the PS, that adopted discriminatory and offensive positions towards former prisoners and political persecutées, property, dual citizenship, and so on. For Nano—the representatives of the PS have only one message: that slander should win them the right to citizenship in Albania, rather than their being transplanted to Greece, America or elsewhere. The Enverist dictatorship isolated Albanians from the world for an entire lifetime. Nano aims to do the same. In this way, he opposes economic emigration and promotes the further impoverishment of society because, like his predecessors, he wants to use misery as an instrument of rule. With a monist mentality, Nano hands out certificates of good conduct to the Albanian electorate, which, according to him, “is now acquiring a stable democratic culture.” Are you a democrat or not, do you have a democratic culture or not? According to Nano, you are judged by whether the majority voted for the PS! Just as in Enver’s time, when voting for the PPSH supposedly made Albania the most democratic country in the world, according to the dictator and his clique. Nano now wants to lead us back into this “stable democratic culture.” Fatos Nano then also spoke about relations between central and local government and called for “cooperation, not conflict,” and so on. In fact, appearances notwithstanding, he is also putting forward a strategic platform to destabilize these relations. Referring to “two phenomena” in relations between central and local government, before these have even begun, he hastens to make groundless accusations against the center for its tendency “to concentrate more power in its own hands,” and for dumping on local government “problems that they have no way of solving themselves.” Does Mr Nano not see a third phenomenon—that local authorities must also bear responsibility? In every case, according to him, the center must answer. This is the same tactic and strategy the socialists also use with the Government of Stability, through which they wanted to exercise power, destabilize the country and avoid responsibility, then pin it all on the Democratic Party, the democratic ministers, and so on. Nano wants power, but not responsibility for that power. This is how he acted during half of the communist dictatorship. He wants to undermine central government and not answer for it, destabilize the country and still be applauded, just as Enver and his dark hand once were. Apparently, those emissaries who, in the towns of Laç, Pogradec and elsewhere, call for the overthrow of Mr Meksi’s government in the name of supporting reforms are also Nano’s people. The increasingly fierce aggression that the socialists have been displaying since the 26 July elections, together with Fatos Nano’s statements in his press conferences and the socialist-communist-Enverist media, call for vigilance. They prove that the offspring of the dictatorship cannot and will never reconcile themselves to democracy. BASHKIM TRENOVA

22 March – 26 July — In the runoff, let us win over the electorate that abstained this time — From the preliminary figures published by Radio Tirana on the night of 26 July, into the early hours of the 27th, a lower turnout was noted than on 22 March. There were even figures such as 55 percent, and so on. This decline in interest in voting has its causes, which may be the subject of another article. But I wanted to emphasize that the overwhelming majority of the electorate that did not vote this time had voted for the PD on 22 March. Their choice this time was: “Neither for the PD nor for anyone!” They are now caught in the middle. Meanwhile, the electorate that voted for the PS this time is almost the same as the electorate that voted for it on 22 March. But the failure of the undecided electorate to participate in the vote meant that the PS electorate accounted for a larger percentage in the calculations. Let us illustrate the point with an example: In the commune of Zallherr, Tirana, a total of 4,200 voters were registered on the electoral rolls. Of these, 2,260 took part in the vote, or approximately 50 percent. 904 people voted for the PD, while 971 voted for the PS. As percentages of those who voted (2,260 people), this amounts to 40 percent for the PD and 43 percent for the PS. This area is therefore heading to a runoff. The overwhelming majority of the 50 percent who did not vote this time had voted for the PD on 22 March; if we added them to the electorate that did vote, we would see that the PD would reach 70 percent of the total, while the PS would be at 25–30 percent—more or less the picture of 22 March. Therefore, it is our duty to fight to win back in the runoff the electorate that we have “lost” this time, correcting the mistakes made yesterday while we still have the opportunity. PD activists, deputies and other leaders must meet people and work intensively, right down to making one-to-one contact with voters. It must be made clear that the nationalist alternative is a rope that will drag Albanians endlessly backwards. It seeks to keep Albania in Byzantinism. The PD’s alternative, on the other hand, is the historic alternative for definitively separating Albania from Slavic-communist Byzantinism and drawing it towards Europe, to which we belong. The days are coming when it will awaken on its own one “day,” and then, as a German specialist recently said, Albania will experience a genuine economic “boom”—the prosperity of which it has dreamed... THE OBSERVER

Albania’s Minister of Defence in Turkey

— LIBRAZHD — During the inspections carried out, it was found that the managers of NFP Prrenjas had made monetary funds available for use by private companies in the amount of 1,250,000 lek. For this violation, the managers of this enterprise were referred for criminal prosecution. — VLORË — The director of the village repair and service enterprise, Violeta Krena, in cooperation with the head of the supply and distribution department, Gëzin. Kamberi, carried out private business activities using the enterprise’s equipment. For the verified violations, fines and confiscation measures were imposed, and a report was submitted to the executive committee recommending their dismissal. — KUKËS — An inspection at the plant for aromatic plants and essences found violations in the use of the enterprise’s financial resources. By order of the enterprise’s managers (the director and the head of the finance department), several invoices for goods sold to companies were settled not with money but with household electrical appliances. The managers distributed these for their own benefit, reducing the enterprise’s percentage and profits. Administrative measures were taken for the above violations. — TIRANË — Following a report from a group of farmers in the Petrelë area about their concerns over tractor operators’ application of charges for working the land and providing services, the Tiranë Financial Police Department carried out inspections in the areas of Farka, Stërmësht and Pretelë. Tractor operators Sefë Çelul, Vladimir Dedja, Shagur Sula, and others were caught committing violations: they were carrying out work and collecting payments without issuing invoices. The Financial Police initiated proceedings against the above offenders. Furthermore, an inspection into the use of equipment belonging to the Tiranë SMT found that during the period from 1 January to 30 June 1992, none of the equipment for working the land or for transport had operated in accordance with Ministry of Agriculture instruction No. 3823, under which work was to be carried out according to the official tariffs. The SMT supplied tractor operators with diesel, which they paid for in cash at 7.5 to 8.5 lek, instead of the state price of 6 lek. Measures of this kind are being sought against tractor operators who charged farmers excessively high rates for work carried out. Selling diesel at the above prices constitutes a violation and, as a result, the Financial Police recovered the price difference, amounting to around 30,000 lek. The Financial Police are continuing such inspections in other areas as well, in order to put a stop to speculation that is burdening farmers during this period. SPOKESPERSON FOR THE FINANCIAL POLICE DIRECTORATE

At the PS election meeting in the Pus-Mehan neighborhood, the chairman of the district PS, Mr Gëzim Tusha, and his companions from Vlora, separated from him, recounted all these things about Albania as they sought to fight the opposition with “ballëngj” in order to win Vlora for the PS. They said that if the PS won in Vlora, it would do what it had not done for 50 years: Vlora would be the first with Pushta facing it. But in the end the merchants are facing it. But who are they for, if not Pulja? The communists are in power, so Vlora too must win, because only “Ballëngj”... The chairman was being heckled by the communist-socialist crowd in the hall. “Let us send the emigrants of all Albania into the air.” “Let us make them leave Llogara, let us ... Vlora and link it with the mountain,” and so on. These are the “communist-socialist” people who have revealed their national policies... — In the Lumas area of Vlora, to help the PS in its election campaign, the campaign headquarters has also brought in an old communist, Mr Veli Pipa, former district authority chairman and party and government official during the one-party era. Bent over, with two sticks supporting him in front and another keeping a frayed rope tied around him so he will not fall into some ravine, he makes propaganda for the PS while taking advantage of the shade. The poor man is half blind and cannot see properly; he seems to think that people are listening to him with their mouths open as they say: “Where have we seen you before, Mr Veli, you old deceiver? And what have you done for Albania? Do you think we were born yesterday?... Just like everyone else.” He answers as if he were being questioned... (Continued on page 2)

The existing industry, under the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry, Mineral Resources and Energy, comprises around 400 enterprises with nearly 220,000 employees. Despite unemployment, work is under way to resume full operations at those enterprises that can withstand the laws of the market economy. Since the ministry began operating, the situation has improved. Of the 82 enterprises that were previously working, their number has now reached 130, while the number of enterprises completely out of work has fallen by around 30. These figures mean that around 7,000 workers have found employment. Work is expected to begin soon at the wire plant in Shkodër, the refinery in Rubik, the PVC plant in Vlorë, the plastics plant in Lushnjë, the plastics plant in Durrës, and so on. The phased system for bringing the copper-processing plants and the chemical plants in Fier, Laç, and elsewhere back into operation is now under way. Following the employment of 2,500 workers in the clothing enterprises, the establishment of joint ventures with domestic and foreign capital is expected. In Pogradec, more than 7,600 title deeds have so far been distributed. These properties have given rise to disputes, with certain individuals claiming the amount of land they had in the past. The executive committee therefore decided to cooperate with the judicial authorities and the public order department to ensure that the law on land distribution is fully implemented. Aid forming part of the allocated consignment arrived at the Port of Durrës— (Continued on page 3)

Year II of publication No. 159 Thursday, 30 July 1992 Price: 2 lek Published Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday