Meetings of President Berisha in the districts of Pogradec, Devoll and Kolonjë - I promise you, on behalf of the DP, investments four times greater than those made up to now, the reconstruction of roads, schools and hospitals, and an industry for processing cotton. We guarantee farmers that we will support their farms with state subsidies, saplings, chemical fertilizers and breeding stock; we will renew the entire irrigation system and purchase the wheat at prices higher than the world-market price. I invite you to vote, Berisha told the people of Kolonjë at the end, for the DP’s parliamentary candidate, Mr Uran Butka, one of the most dedicated parliamentarians of this party, of the most dedicated parliamentarians of this party. Then President Berisha continued his meetings in the town of Leskovik. concessional credit, and will send seasonal workers to neighboring Greece and to Italy. At 13:30 President Berisha arrived in the town of Ersekë. Here too the town’s main square was packed with residents who, Berisha continued, together with the secret police have entered into another collaboration with anti-Albanian terrorists, beginning with those directly implicated in the bloodshed of Albanians, with those who—not in 1912, nor in 1990, but in 1993—called for the partition of Yugoslavia, with the aim of partitioning Albania. Leskovik. In the center of the town, thousands of people awaited President Berisha. On this occasion, the President himself inaugurated the town’s new water-supply system. The cinema hall was too small for the large number of people. The preferred venue for the rally remained the square by the symbolic plane tree, which will now enter the new history of Albania. Speaking at this meeting, President Berisha invited the citizens of Leskovik to vote for the DP. “I invite you, the wise men and women of Leskovik,” he said, “to vote for the DP, to vote for these flags, of Albania and the European Community, so that they may always be together. Our flag is a symbol of resistance. Its place is where the Albanian Lord placed it; it is where Skënderbeu placed it, so let us vote for freedom, prosperity, and Europe, which loves us greatly and supports us... This time Leskovik votes for the flag, which was unveiled by a great man of Leskovik, perhaps the wisest Albanian of all time, to fly where it belongs—in the West, not the East.” Berisha sharply criticized the efforts of the red front, which, in connection with various groups and individuals, is fighting to undermine friendly relations with Greece. “I assure you,” Berisha said, “that friendship with Greece is and will remain one of our great priorities, for us, Greece and Europe.” He went on: “I have come here before, and you have raised with me the issue of the Tre Urat crossing, this border crossing. Both governments have made the decision to open this border crossing; it will be opened, so I assure you that your movement will be formalized and will be very free. We promise the things we deliver, and Berisha—but we do not deliver alone; we deliver together with you.” Yesterday morning, as he was leaving the city of Pogradec, the President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, stopped in the municipality of Çërravë, where he held a meeting with residents of this municipality and the surrounding villages. In his speech, President Berisha called on the residents of this municipality to vote for the DP on May 26. Over the past four years, Berisha said, the residents of the municipality of Çërravë had managed to become farmers, and among the most successful; they had managed to become free people, people who live by their own free labor. Today the DP presents you with the best program for your prosperity, your employment, your security, and Albania’s integration into Europe. President Berisha promised the residents of this municipality that water-supply systems would be built, that the implementation of the cable-car project would be accelerated—it would be a pioneering project, the most advanced in Albania—and that there would be investment in infrastructure and irrigation, as well as social support for families left without property. He also assured the residents of Çërravë that they would be shareholders in national property. Speaking about the Red Front’s alternative, President Berisha said that it was an alternative of Albania’s isolation, of breaking the ties and friendships we have established. In conclusion, President Berisha told the residents of the municipality of Çërravë to vote for the DP’s parliamentary candidate, Mr. Isat Hyka, whom he described as a worthy bearer of the great legacy of the school of democracy, an intellectual who was honest and talented. Those present also welcomed parliamentary candidate Mr. Hyka, who highlighted some of the DP’s achievements in the municipality of Çërravë over these years and promised to carry their voice into the new parliament. Yesterday, President of the Republic Sali Berisha also went to the city of Bilisht in the district of Devoll. At the rally organized on this occasion, President Berisha called on those present to all vote for the DP’s alternative in the May 26 elections—the alternative of the future, of Albania’s progress, and of its integration into European structures. President Berisha focused on Albania’s achievements over the past four years, emphasizing that our country had now taken sure steps toward Europe, because we love Europe and it loves and supports us. Albania would achieve even greater accomplishments over the next four years, since the DP’s alternative is the alternative of progress. In his speech, President Berisha also addressed the antidemocratic alternative of the Red Front, which, he said, would lead Albania eastward. But this would never happen, because Albania’s place is in the West, and that is where it will always be. Concluding, President Berisha said that the DP would present the best program for the future and implement a program for the rapid improvement of prosperity and the rapid growth of Albania’s economy. President Berisha’s excellent meeting in the municipality of Mollas stirred emotion among the residents, who had come out early to welcome the President. “I want to assure all the citizens of Albania,” the President stressed, “that in the future they will receive special treatment.” To this end, the DP would work on employment and municipal services, encourage the expansion of favorable credit, and 13:30 President Berisha arrived in the city of Ersekë. Here, too, the city’s main square was packed with residents who had also come from the surrounding villages. The chairman of the district branch of the DP, Paqësor Cane, after speaking about the achievements of these four years of democracy, said that the people of Kolonjë would vote for the DP so that the bitter dictatorial past, the disdain, neglect, and forgetting of Kolonjë would never return. Yes. Beautiful Kolonjë will vote for President Berisha. In these four years we moved from a dead space, neither East nor West, into the Western European space where we were born, into the space to which Nolizmi assigns us, where our future lies. In these four years we moved from being a country that no one would even approach, or that only terrorists from Europe and the world visited, to a country now visited by thousands upon thousands of distinguished people, by the highest-ranking figures from the most developed democracies, prime ministers and presidents. This shows that we proved to Europe and the world that we know how to use freedom; it shows the values of our civilization and our faith in the future... The current leaders of the Albanian Red Front, in close cooperation with the secret police, Berisha continued, have entered into another collaboration with anti-Albanian terrorists, starting with those directly implicated in the bloodshed of Albanians, for the partition of Albanian territories. The shame is theirs. Albania will never be divided! Those who, for the sake of Sali Berisha, [?] with Fan Noli’s friends are also enemies of all Albania; they have no future. Albania belongs to democracy... The Red Front, Berisha stressed, has been going around Albania these days with the slogan that they will win because the communists also won in the East. We tell them that Albania is the West,

- The Chairman of the ADP, Prof. Dr. Tritan Shehu, meets voters in three municipalities of Lushnjë and also attends the Grand Festive Concert “Vision 2000,” organized at the stadium in the city of Lushnjë. The Chairman of the Democratic Party, Prof. Dr. Tritan Shehu, held several meetings in Lushnjë yesterday. The day’s meetings began in Dushk. Introducing the candidate Agim Fuga, the Chairman of the ADP, Prof. Dr. Tritan Shehu, told the residents gathered there that “the Democratic Party’s program prioritizes small-scale processing industries, which must be established near production centers—in other words, as close to you as possible.” We will not build magical giants who had filled the steps and the field of their town’s stadium to capacity. Amid applause and enthusiastic cries of “Everyone wins with us,” the Chairman of the ADP, Mr Tritan Shehu, took the floor and first thanked those present for the support they had given Albanian democracy. Lushnja, Mr Shehu said, has always been at the forefront of progressive developments throughout Albania’s history. Voting too, he said among other things, “We will give wider scope to social care through loans for young couples, for those with homeless status, etc.; we will facilitate the conditions for productive investment and thus bring unemployment below 9%.” In Fier-Shegan, Mr Shehu described the opposition as an amorphous structure in a crisis over individual candidates. “It is tragic and comic,” he said, “that figures unknown even in their own time, like Faskot, should still seek the votes of honest people. ‘Help Albania continue along the road it has begun, and it will be eternally grateful to you,’” Shehu said in closing. The meeting in Kolonjë began with the introduction of the candidate Gjovalin Daka. In his speech, Shehu focused on the national calamity that the extreme left is bringing upon the country with its Asia-Eastern orientation. “Those who declare that winds from the East are blowing in Europe can in no way integrate Albania into the West.” They, Shehu said, are revealing the outlines of a form of government that Albanians overthrew once and are with you.” At yesterday’s gathering in the Lushnjë city stadium, more than 20,000 people took part in the meeting with the chairman of the DP. Enthusiasm, flags and flowers. This was the festive atmosphere of this enthusiastic afternoon. With lively detail, floor and first thanked the people of Lushnjë developments throughout Albania’s history. Your pro-democracy vote, then, was also a continuation of these precious traditions of yours. In these four years, he said, Lushnja has made significant progress, and it will develop much more in the four years to come. During these four years we established the free individual, the individual as owner. Mr Shehu then spoke about the importance that investment in infrastructure in this district would assume over the next four years, including water-supply systems, roads and food-processing industries, as well as bringing them closer to producing farmers. The DP presents you not only with the best program but also with the best people. It presents the most capable, most honest and most competent people—the people of the year 2000. “Everyone wins with us,” Mr Shehu said, “because we think and work for everyone.” Introducing the candidate Maksim Cikuli, Mr Shehu expressed his confidence that the Democratic Party’s victory was an indisputable fact, a message that everyone already knows and wishes for. The citizens of Lushnjë, who had filled the stadium and sports field to capacity, then watched for nearly three hours as some of Albania’s best singers performed, including Ardit Gjebrea, Aleksandër Gjoka, Redon Makashi, Mimoza Selimi, etc. They were warmly applauded by those present.

Yesterday morning, as he was leaving the city of Pogradec, the President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, stopped in the municipality of Çërravë, where he held a meeting with residents of this municipality and the surrounding villages.

Yesterday, President of the Republic Sali Berisha also went to the city of Bilisht in the district of Devoll.

President Berisha.

In these four years we moved from a dead space, neither East nor West, into the Western European space where we were born, into the space to which Nolizmi assigns us, where our future lies.

Enthusiasm, flags and flowers. This was the festive atmosphere of this enthusiastic afternoon.

The electorate of the Albanian Democratic Party publicly protests against: 1- The inaccurate and incomplete visual coverage with which Albanian Television (TVSH) presents the activities of the Chairman of the Democratic Party in its reports on political parties, distorting the extent of the mass participation of people in them. This professional inaccuracy directly harms the public relations that the Democratic Party has with the Albanian electorate. 2- The electorate of the Democratic Party also considers it necessary to draw the attention of TVSH’s Information Department, which, contrary to electoral law, is not fairly implementing the broadcast-time quotas by allotting more time to the opposition parties. By making this protest, the electorate of the ADP hopes that Albanian Television will reflect on these problems and adopt an appropriate position.

NATIONAL LIBRARY Statement of the Episcopal Conference of Albania We pray that God may grant victory to democracy Page 3

Dritëro Agolli warns the Albanians Page 3