Statement by the Secretary General of PDSH, Mr. Tritan Shehu, for the newspaper “RD”, regarding the statement of the Deputy Chairman of the PSSH, Mr. Servet Pëllumbi Yesterday’s statement by Mr. Pëllumbi, at the meeting with representatives of the PSE, consists in calling people into the street under the pretext of defending democracy; it is irresponsible, provocative, and malicious. This statement is part of the arsenal of calls by Marxists and Albanians for breaking skulls, for zero energy for Saint Bartholomew’s Day, or for civil war. The content of this statement stems from the strategy of the communist leaders of the PS to create tension, to cause destabilization, to drive the country into confrontation. The extreme left, confused and isolated, has escalated the fight not only against all intellectual and democratic forces but also against all democratic thought, fully returning to its origins of crime and terror. I want to tell Mr. Pëllumbi that he is gravely mistaken; no one goes into the streets to defend your alternative, the alternative of misery, regression, and social tensions. On the other hand, the Democratic Party is determined to continue on its path of reforms and democratic development in the country, if it is determined to respect the rules of the democratic game, it is determined to win as in 1992 through the free vote. As for the electoral law, I also want to say to others like him that the Democratic Party, until today, has prepared only one democratic law of progressive European dimensions. All those who seek changes before they have been formulated, which the PD will propose to parliament regarding the current electoral law, are changes aimed at strengthening democracy in Albania and creating such a political stability that reforms can advance in all areas of the country’s life. Be assured that very soon they will see this for themselves, when they become familiar with our proposals.

President of the Republic Sali Berisha, on the basis of his constitutional powers, exercised the legislative initiative by proposing today to the People’s Assembly the approval of the draft law “On an addition to the Law on official holidays,” which concerns designating Nevruz Day, the most important holiday of Bektashism, as an official holiday and a recognized day off. In the proposal that the President sent to the People’s Assembly, the reasons behind this initiative are mentioned, such as the considerable spread of Bektashism across the territory of the Republic of Albania, the involvement of broad segments of the population, the contribution that representatives of Bektashism have made to the national cause beginning with the period of the national renaissance, independence and during the struggle for liberation, as well as the existence of the Headquarters of International Bektashism in Tirana.

At the invitation of President of the Republic Sali Berisha, from 24 to 26 January an official visit to our country will be made by the President of the Republic of Hungary, Arpad Gëns. Gëns is accompanied by members of the government and high-ranking Hungarian officials, as well as by a large group of businesspeople and journalists. During his stay, President Gëns will hold talks with President Berisha and will visit the People’s Assembly and have meetings with other high-ranking state figures in the country. Gëns’s visit to Albania aims to strengthen bilateral relations between Hungary and Albania in various fields and sectors.

It is now in the process of normalizing a line that a leadership grouping of the Socialist Party has with its base. It is neither frivolous nor principled, but something concrete. The base is outraged, boycotting by the socialist leadership. The split between the base representatives at the heart of the union has severely affected the base, to whom the socialist leadership has trusted no more than their vote, and that only on election day. Gramoz Ruçi, as an expert on the party’s new candidacies, did not even wait for the proper day for his promise that the candidates would come from the base; he had already imposed it through a typical Ruçi-style diktat. Only in the last few days did he speak imperiously of protests by the base against the candidacies served up by the center. A few months before the elections, the socialist leadership does not seek approval from its own base. Now we are talking about the fundamental problems of a party, which are those of representation. Thus the political personality of a party comes into question, and this doubt has a more credible value than the uncertainty that would arise as a result of various factors. This time it originates from within the party and is directed against its leaders. How far should this go as a value of the base? The socialist base has a heavy profile both because of its long history and because of the program that supports this history. This party has inherited the entire residue of the years of dictatorship, summed up among those who benefited from that dictatorship, that is, the communist part. Another contingent is made up of people without wealth and closely tied to tradition and the leadership of tradition, while another part gathers those who contribute to socialist ideals with purity and with the hope that they can find themselves in them. Looking at the composition of this party, it becomes clear that the protest is not merely a demand of the internal passions of the base, but a reflection of the clans operating within its leadership, not excluding here, from fear of loneliness, the base of this party has felt deceived by the party leadership. At a Socialist Party conference long ago they had decided to call for the opinion of the base as well as elements that would be proposed by it to complete the list of PS candidates. Apparently this deception was immediately exposed by Ruçi, since he did not hear the voice of the masses, much less accept names on his list that he himself had not foreseen. Thus the base has no other possibility to represent its opinion except to declare its protest, even if the totalitarian mentality of the socialists does not forgive it. Such a thing happened in Elbasan, but it is more than certain that it must have happened also in the hermetic meeting halls where Ruçi meets with socialist leaders in the districts. It is not by chance that the leadership in the center behaves this way toward its base. At the foundation of all their politics lies demagogy. It has become organic to this party, so much so that the base is in a position to preserve the traces of the demagogy that comes from the center. It cannot avoid it even when it concerns its own place, even more so regarding that part which wrongly keeps the party headquarters in Tirana on its feet. Holding power through demagogy like the socialist leadership is very dangerous not only for this party, but also for the fate of other demagogies that line up behind the consequences of the social order. Nevertheless, the Socialist Party now finds itself in such a situation that things have been set in motion and are being pulled now to one side by the base and now to the side of the current leadership of this party. Naturally Ruçi will keep his file with the list of candidates, completed before the promise to seek the opinion of the base, tightly in hand.

Gëns, writer, translator and President of the Republic of Hungary, was born in Budapest on 10 February 1922. Graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Sciences at Pétër Pasmani in Budapest, he also studied for 4 years at the Faculty of Agriculture. He worked as a research employee before being arrested in 1957 for participation in the 1956 revolution in Hungary. He was released in 1963 under an amnesty and until 1990 worked as a freelance writer and literary translator. In 1988 Gëns became vice president of the Benk Klub movement, president of the Association of Writers in 1989–90, and since then has been its honorary president. A member of the Smallholders’ Independent Party, he later became a founder in 1988 of the free initiative network and then of the Democratic Alliance of Progressives. The new alliance of free democrats in the Parliament of 1990. And since August 1990 he has been President of the Republic of Hungary.

Pëllumbi: “The voting commissions will be state commissions and the votes will be checked at police stations” At the meeting that the PSE delegation, led by its Secretary General Valivoli, had with PSE representatives at this final stage, they once again launched a series of lies toward their “friends.” After receiving information about the anti-democratic law from the former theorist of class struggle, Pëllumbi, and from its implementer, former Interior Minister Ruçi, Valivoli was interested in knowing why the opposition is concerned about the free conduct of elections. Having no real argument on this point, Pëllumbi shamelessly invents a series of lies: “The voting commissions will be state commissions, while the votes will be checked at police stations,” claims Pëllumbi. When he heard these absurdities, Mr. Vryktari of the PS himself could not even say, since such things were not in the mind of PSE fanatics; these were only lies. Such politicians are the shame of Albania. They continue to slander and deceive not only those outside the country but also foreigners who visit them as guests at their headquarters, seeing in these lies merely a means to return to power. E.PALOKA

Another rebuttal for the newspaper “KJ” The age of lies The truth about the American Republican Institute survey “Koha Jonë”, among its articles dated 23.1.1996, published this piece yesterday under the title “American survey by the author Mehmet Elezi,” attributing the survey result to the final question. Further on, the newspaper says that the survey questions are from Teuta Sarova. What does Mehmet Elezi say when asked about this. M. ELEZI: First of all, I want to say that it is a great compliment to the Institute I lead to be compared with such a caliber, with which both my institute and I have cooperated and which is needed by the prestigious American institution, the American Republican Institute. We hope that this compliment will become reality in the future. As for your question, I first learned about the existence of the American Republican Institute in the press, like all Albanians, and I want to tell you that I have never met Mr. Dickenson, whom I respect, nor any other employee of the Institute in my life. I saw Mr. Dickenson on TV for the first time when he gave an interview, and that was my acquaintance with this Institute. I will not quote what I have read in the press. I have no connection with this survey. Then Dickenson was asked by the newspaper “KJ” and was addressed by the American Republican Institute in Tirana. Please, was the survey recently published by Albania carried out by your institute? DICKENSON: First of all, I must say again that yesterday’s article in the newspaper Koha Jonë is not true. - Is Mr. Mehmet Elezi the author or a participant in this survey? We must be very clear. We did not work together with Mr. Mehmet Elezi or with his institute. Ms. Teuta Starova carried out some of the survey questions? We ourselves formulated the questions, and we ourselves processed the results. - Finally, have you sent the figures from this survey to the political parties? We gave our results directly to all political parties, and it is up to them whether to make them public or not. Thank you.

Interview with the Secretary General of the Democratic Party, Tritan Shehu, given to BBC Radio Interview with the Secretary General of the Democratic Party Tritan Shehu given to BBC Radio Security in the upcoming elections What do the American survey data say about the Democratic Party? I want to say that the result is very positive: around 73 percent of Albanians think that Albania is moving in the right direction and only 14 percent say that Albania is moving in the wrong direction. Around 72 percent of the population are very satisfied with the economic level they have reached, and only 27 percent are not satisfied. ... [?] 15 percent say that in Albania the judicial system is not independent, only 4 percent say that there is no freedom of the press, and only 13 percent say that human rights are not respected in Albania. - The survey by the association of institutes of Albania meanwhile has data that contradict the data of the American Republican Institute. What would you say about this? - First of all, I trust international institutions that are completely impartial, as well as specialized and qualified in the study of Albanian sociology, so I believe that it is impartial, and secondly, the number of respondents is small, only 200. - Albania is facing elections. How certain is the PD about victory in the elections? I want to say that the figure of the President is the number one figure in Albanian politics and in the Democratic Party; he is the one who leads the campaigns against dictatorship, the ideator of reform, a man of reputation. All this shows precisely here that his republic is coming, which is not in decline but, on the contrary, is rising; undoubtedly the figure of President Berisha is the central figure of the Democratic Party. As for the referendum, I would say that it took place at a rather difficult moment for the reform. Moreover, if as the Democratic Party in the referendum we obtained over 40 percent and more, I think this means that surveys should not be judged only by the results they give, nor by the value of a party’s optimism. What gives me confidence for the elections is our work. A total effort by all structures of the Democratic Party, to arrive safely at victory in ’96.

Reported from Italy Serbia, through the former secret police, finances the PS and “KJ” strategjie dei socialisti.[?] Il giornale “Koha Jonë” è soltanto una “maschera” per i socialisti d’opposizione che serve a coprire l’azione di discredito da parte dei socialisti nei confronti del Governo di Tirana, facendola passare senza il marchio del quotidiano socialista “Zëri i Popullit”. “Koha Jonë” c è nato soltanto per una strategia istituzionale adottata dai socialisti e dalla polizia segreta albanesi, in modo tale che i messaggi diretti contro il Governo vengono lanciati apertamente da “Zëri i Popullit” come organo dichiaratamente opposto al regime democratico, ma con lo stratagemma dell’appoggio di “Koha Jonë” che, senza sembrare un giornale socialista, fa il gioco dei socialisti, con la diretta conseguenza che il vero condizionamento Read on page 3

Minutes of the Political Bureau meeting of the Central Committee of the PPSH, dated 25 and 26 July 1974 From the heritage collection of the PS

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