Opinions of every kind are clashing now, following the elections of 26 July. Once again Albania is gripped by fever, and an extreme politicization, stirred up by forces from the past regimes that are experiencing a temporary revival, may come to the fore. There is talk of victory and blows of historic proportions for the destiny of the nation and the country, and so on. In truth, nothing should be dramatized, whether from the victor’s position or, likewise, from that of those who have been struck down. The elections of 26 July have significance for the further course of events in our country and for the growth of their development. But regardless of the results, they can never be decisive to such an extent that anyone could claim to turn back the locomotive of Albanian society, which, without any doubt, will always forge ahead, firmly supported on the steel rails of democracy. The socialist-communist propaganda and the PS leaders, in ecstasy, without waiting for the second round of elections to be completed, and without even waiting for the first-round results to be officially announced, are spreading, in the role of triumphant gladiators, an extremely dangerous, aggressive and revanchist psychosis against the democratic forces and democracy in general. If you fall prey to it, you might naively and despairingly believe that everything is over, that everything has passed into the “safe” hands of the PS, daughter of the PKSH and PPSH, granddaughter of Stalin’s Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Tito’s Yugoslav Communist Party. Completely irresponsible thuggish acts are also being carried out, with fascist-style threats and insults against respectable people. The Socialist hens from the Communist brooding hen have shed many feathers from their rachitic wings, even though they advertise them as healthy. On the night of 26 July, the lights also went out in Tirana, and at that moment the “caste” was subjected to the full force of the darkness, whose intensity will surely depend in the coming days on the position and response, the organization of the true democratic forces, and the activity of the dictatorship of the law against anyone acting contrary to it. We must not forget that the communists’ euphoria over their victory in the elections of 31 March 1991 led to and carried out the Shkodra massacre and fanned the “enthusiasm” for civil war, for fratricide. The socialists’ euphoria, resulting from the outcome of the latest elections, is following the same tracks. The Shkodra trial has not yet ended. Let us not add further trials over political and common-criminal adventurism. Democracy implies tolerance. Nevertheless, everything has a limit. It cannot extend to total passivity, while its enemies seek to bury it. It cannot allow a repeat of 1921 or 1944, when the aspirations of the Albanian people, who shed blood for democracy, were brutally trampled by anti-national, collaborationist forces from Belgrade and Moscow, royalist-fascist-communist forces. Today’s Albanian reality will not allow the socialists to enjoy their victory for long. At some point, together with the others, in the places where they have won, the people will once again confront them to resolve the problems and endless hardships. The socialists made the Meksi government the scapegoat for their crimes, accusing it because in three months it was unable to wipe away the stains of the fifty-year tragedy that they themselves inflicted on this people and this country. Time will show what they will be able to do now, over three years, while holding a power with broad autonomy. We want to predict. Good luck! But if for 50 years they only cursed this land, it is hard to imagine that they will take any blessed step at this century’s end to atone for their sins. They are not people who know repentance. Never and nowhere have they expressed such a thing. In their moral code, something like that means immorality. Thus, they are determined to continue along their own road of enslavement, the road on which the “stability government” also “experimented”—with the result that the country was destabilized as never before—and along the road of corruption and organized robbery, raised to the level of a system. This will bring about a decline and an even greater estrangement of the electorate, which, for various reasons, mainly because of the hardships of the period, gives its vote to the socialists. Thus, their victory, crowned by the inevitable ballot, will ultimately bring the Socialist Party to an end as a force that claims to play an important role in the country’s social and political life. With it, every attempt to restore neo-communist dictatorship in Albania will come to an end once and for all, and democracy, the only hope of the Albanians, will become the only genuine reality in this land, forever Albanian.

Mr. EDUARD SELAMI takes part Democracy needs the culture, history and wisdom of the people of Berat On 30 July, at 10:30, a rally was held in Berat as part of the elections for the second round of local government. In the presence of thousands of supporters, amid enthusiastic cheers for the PD and President Berisha, as well as for the PD, the chairman of the PD, Mr. Eduard Selami, also ... First, Mr. Selami said, I want to thank you for this enthusiastic welcome and for your confidence that democracy will be strengthened and will win in Berat. You have seen the results of the elections on 26 July. The big cities voted for the democrats on 22 March; we will work to ensure that Berat joins them too. Democracy needs the culture, history and wisdom of the people of Berat. Culture, history and wisdom—otherwise you would not be wise. You will be wise and choose well the best alternative, which will represent you in the future. If we want prosperity, security, economic stability, foreign investment and the support of all the democratic forces of the civilized world ... On 26 July, a considerable number of people, thinking that the regressive, conservative forces representing the past in a new form had been defeated once and for all, hesitated and did not take part in the voting. But the fragile Albanian democracy badly needs their support. They have now realized that their indifference gave darkness a chance to triumph temporarily. It is their duty, and the duty of democracy and the nation, to return to the polling stations and support democratic processes through the free vote. Let us not forget that a vote for socialism today is a vote for those who tormented us for 47 years in a row. They are the same people who now present themselves as renewed, yet blame democracy for the economic misery it inherited from the past. The results of 26 July showed that the percentage of the principal ... (Continued on page 4)

Messrs. Xhim Mejsën, chairman of the telephone company for Albania, [said they would provide] state-of-the-art technology at minimal cost; the program would be carried out in three phases over 7 years, providing telephones to 450,000 homes, and they thought it should begin with Tirana. They also promised to bring very powerful investors to Albania, including for the fields of agriculture and construction. President Berisha, for his part, thanked his English friends and expressed his support for their activity. PRESS AND INFORMATION OFFICE AT THE PRESIDENCY from Lancashire; Luis Ellmën, chairman of the Lancashire County Council; and Ouen Oisten, president of several companies in England, were received by the President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, at his headquarters. The gentlemen from England expressed to President Berisha their pleasure at the meeting, highly praised the reforms and measures the government is taking to lift the country out of its grave situation, and expressed their readiness to provide concrete assistance to our country during this period. They stressed that they are ready to invest in tourism development in selected areas. They expressed their readiness to build a telephone network for Albania using state-of-the-art technology at minimal cost. This INFORMATION OFFICE AT THE PRESIDENCY

The SP, which knows only how to destroy, cannot rebuild The elections of March 22 opened a new page in the history of the Albanian people. They gave Albanian politics a new direction. What was distinctive about them was that around 70 percent of the population voted for a profound, complete and radical transformation of politics and Albanian life in general. A people isolated for decades, deceived and mistreated under one of the harshest communist dictatorships, proclaimed its noble spirit before the civilized world. It showed that deep within it, where no one had been able to penetrate, a hope, a dream, an ideal had been preserved. It was wise enough to understand that the time had come to take its fate into its own hands. And it did. It voted for democracy, for its participation in power. It showed that this time it is determined not to allow [unclear] to trample it underfoot, to humiliate and degrade its people of Europe again. The other peoples of Eastern Europe also changed the course of their history, and today a new picture lies before them. Economic reforms have also brought pain, suffering and wounds. But their fate, the extent of the pain endured, is determined by one major factor: political stability. Our people deserve credit for understanding this. Today, major questions lie before them: will the new democratic order be consolidated, and will economic reform be carried out as quickly and with as little pain as possible? And the fruits are already appearing. In Albania, many people who have received land and livestock are returning to them. Once, though they longed for the future, they were subjected to speculative versions and experiments in the socialization of labor and property. Today they have no time to philosophize or experiment; they want to make up for lost time. Look at the factories, perhaps still not fully… (Continued on page 4) into the “safe” hands of the SP, the offspring of a clan and perhaps Yugoslav Communist Party. Completely irresponsible hooligan acts are also being committed: threats and degrading insults of a fascist kind. The socialist voters from the communist brood very quickly lost the feathers from their emaciated wings, which they think they can show off as if they were [unclear]. On the night of July 26, the lights also went out in Tirana and, “by coincidence,” at that moment the fireworks or illuminated rockets celebrating the SP’s victories in the local elections were set off. The people of darkness cannot, even for a minute, feel outside it, just as their entire being and all their activity remain within it. The Socialists are now behaving as if they had managed to defeat a sworn enemy. With this kind of psychology, the creations of today’s Socialists manipulated people throughout their entire time in power. With this psychology they are terrorizing people’s exhausted minds to confuse them, turn them away from democracy, and make them say, like obedient slaves in the flock of the “Christ,” the Antichrist. It is clear that it is not reason, but the instinct of class struggle that is in their genes, the feudal, stable-communist mentality, which, as always, also in this case compels the Socialists to appear as knights of the face of [unclear]… The conduct of the soc-communists after the elections shows once again who they are and how dangerous they are if they feel even a little power. It heralds the possibility of artificially creating unpredictable social problems and tensions for …

Those of you who did not vote on 26 July, do not forget that victory in the local elections and democracy need your support and help. Your vote carries great weight. Vote for the PD candidates, because in this way you strongly support democracy and your future!

— The total number of PD voters is greater than that of the PS. — The PS received the same number of votes as it did on 22 March. — Whom does Fatos Nano’s big deception serve? ... Balance, calm, or rising tensions? The Central Election Commission still cannot provide a final official result because the count has not been completed. But “RD” asked its journalist Genc Tirana to gather information this week about the preliminary results coming in from the districts, so that readers could be kept informed. Just as has also been acknowledged in public statements by the chairman of the PD, Mr. Eduard Selami, the Democratic Party has won in the municipalities of the city of ... [Text fragment:] ... voters of the Democratic Party on 22 March, because it does not appear that the number of Socialist Party voters has increased compared with the previous elections. PS voters number approximately 450,000, the same as on 22 March.

The Democratic Party Electoral Commission announces that, on the basis of information from official sources, the results so far in the local government elections are as follows: the Democratic Party has won 45.2 percent, while the PS has won 43.5 percent. These figures clearly show that the claims and statements made by the chairman of the PS, Mr. Fatos Nano, are unfounded and are intended to deceive public opinion and influence the results of the second round of local government elections. Thus, Mr. Fatos Nano and the PS are continuing their propaganda with false arguments. According to preliminary data emerging from the districts, so that readers can be kept informed, the Democratic Party has won approximately 4 to 5 percent more votes than the Socialist Party. Another significant indication from these elections is that the number of people who took part in voting has fallen by around 30 percent compared with the elections of 22 March. According to preliminary data, abstention in these elections was ... These figures clearly show that ... It can be said unequivocally that these elections are not over. The second round is very important, because elections will be held in 26 districts, and the final results may differ greatly from the current ones. Runoffs are being held in 16 municipalities and 95 communes. In most cases, the runoff is between the Democratic Party and the Socialist Party, but in a small percentage it is between PS-PDNJ, PD-PDNJ, PS-PSD, PS-PR, etc. We are convinced that socialist-communist-style deceptions will not help their authors win over the electorate. Dishonesty cannot be on the side of the winners. It is the weapon of those who have failed. [The article also repeats:] be held in 26 districts, and the final result may differ greatly from the current one. is between PS-PDNJ, PD-PDNJ, PS-PSD, PS-PR, etc.