Today, the chairman of the German delegations to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is in Albania Mr. Klaus Buhler, chairman of the German delegations to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, will arrive today for a four-day visit to Albania as a guest of the Democratic Party. the Democratic Party. Mr. Klaus Buhler’s schedule, as a member of the same party as German Chancellor Kohl, is packed with visits and meetings with voters in the districts of Lezhë, Shkodër, Malësia e Madhe, Përmet and Tirana. On some of these visits, Mr. Buhler will be accompanied by the chairman of the Democratic Party of Albania, Tritan Shehu. In the other districts, he will take part in candidates for the Democratic Party meeting directly with voters in their constituencies. A few days ago, Michel Perikard, chairman of the parliamentary group of the Union for the Republic Party of France, was also in Albania. During his meetings in various Albanian cities, he conveyed the full support of France’s governing parties, President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Alain Juppé for a Democratic Party of Albania victory. Perikard considered the return to power of Albania’s former communists, converted into socialists, fatal for Europe. The President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, will receive the the Council of Europe at a special meeting. Together with the Secretary for International Relations of the Democratic Party of Albania, Mr. Albert Brojka, Mr. Buhler will hold a press conference for journalists today at the Europapark Hotel at 17:30.

From President Berisha’s meetings with residents of villages in Durrës In the next four years, the Democratic Party will ensure: - Consolidation of private property. - Ownership for those who have not yet become property owners. - Creation of a strong credit network, especially for farmers. - Many more investments in infrastructure. - A consistent policy of increasing pensions. The Democratic Party’s program is a program for your success, because over the next four years the Democratic Party will ensure the consolidation of private property, and will satisfy all Albanians by establishing the firm conviction that we have satisfied the overwhelming majority of Albanians. “It was the call of freedom that led you to support the Democratic Party from its very beginnings,” President Berisha told the residents of the villages of Katund i Ri and Shënavlash, promising the asphalting of the road to Spitallë, the construction of a water-supply system and the opening of the road to Jubë. On the way back, along the road to Manzë, President Berisha stopped and met with a group of Roma. It was a spontaneous but very warm meeting. With their pure hearts, the Roma pledged their support for the Democratic Party, while the President promised them special priority treatment, especially regarding housing, employment and education. Although it was raining, the residents of Manzë filled their town square. They came out to welcome President Berisha and demonstrate their strong support for the Democratic Party. President Berisha assured them: “We will include you in the program for afforestation and for using the forest—not by the state, but privately by you. The state has exploited these forests enough for 50 years. Now you will enjoy them,” Berisha said. There is no reason to be deeply dissatisfied; we may be critical, yes. But that does not mean we should not vote for the Democratic Party. “Mistakes have also been made,” Berisha said, “and we are working every day to correct them. You will also give your vote to the Democratic Party to correct these mistakes and move forward. “We have renewed 70% of the Democratic Party’s structures,” Berisha said, “so we have taken steps to correct the mistakes. “We must not fall prey to the Front… because over the next four years the Democratic Party plans to consolidate private property, provide ownership to those who have not yet become property owners, create a strong credit network, especially for farmers, and make many more investments in infrastructure, telephone services, water-supply systems, irrigation and drainage canals, and mechanization. These were some of the main objectives of the Democratic Party’s program, announced yesterday by the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha, at the warm and enthusiastic meetings he held with residents of Xhafzotaj, Shënavlash in the commune of Rrashbull, residents of the Commune of Katund i Ri, residents of the town of Manzë, and residents of the Commune of Ishëm and the villages of Skafand and Armathë in the Durrës district. At the meeting with residents of Xhafzotaj, President Berisha congratulated them on the great support they had given the Democratic Party since its beginnings, and said that farmers would receive further encouragement and support over the next four years. “Over these four years,” he said, “you have been the most successful farmers, and voting for the Democratic Party guarantees your success. We do not claim,” Mr. Berisha said, “that we have done everything right for all Albanians, but we are fully convinced that we have satisfied the overwhelming majority of Albanians.” He assured the residents of Xhafzotaj that farmers would be encouraged through credit. “You will organize the market yourselves,” he said. “The state can only help you, because if the state intervenes, your interests are affected.” To help Albanian farmers, Mr. Berisha said, they had decided to buy their wheat at the highest price, two dollars more than the United States pays. Speaking about the law on the sale and purchase of land, President Berisha said that the passage of this law—which the Socialist Party voted against—was the final act in granting you ownership. “The Socialist Party’s program,” Mr. Berisha said, “uses the term pluralist economy. You and everyone else have already received land as property. So the question arises: where will they get the land to establish state ownership? Therefore, votes for the Socialist Party are votes for renationalizing the land you own. They have nowhere else to get land. Every farmer who votes for the Democratic Party on 26 May votes for the inheritance of his property, for guaranteeing that property and increasing it,” Mr. Berisha said. support the Democratic Party from its Katund i Ri and Shënavlash, areas populated by people who came from Kosovo and settled here many years ago. “Your vote for the Democratic Party on 22 March was a vote for our national cause,” President Berisha said. Speaking about the prospects that the Democratic Party’s program offers for the future, President Berisha promised the residents of Shënavlash that road asphalting would begin soon, and that investments would also be made in irrigation and electricity systems. Regarding taxes, Mr. Berisha said they would be much lower and more favorable for farmers over the next four years. “The Red Front,” President Berisha said, “has hurt your feelings by bringing here as a candidate a man whom you have voted against twice in a row. This time, too, you must show them your determination in supporting the Democratic Party, so that on 26 May you achieve a greater victory than on 22 March 1992.” For the residents of the Commune of Katund i Ri, parliamentary candidate Genc Juka promised the development of Manzë. He said the Democratic Party’s program would be a program of self-government for the development of Manzë, a center that for many years served the country as a coal-mining center, but which can no longer function under a market economy. “We will find the most suitable solutions for you,” he said, promising seasonal migration, the encouragement and development of the food industry, doubling the number of students, declaring Manzë a municipality, and so on. Regarding pensions, Berisha said that the policy of increasing pensions would remain consistent over the next four years. At the meeting with residents of the Commune of Ishëm, the most mountainous area of the Durrës district, President Berisha said that a vote for the Democratic Party guaranteed our freedoms and property. He promised residents complete asphalting of the road, telephone services, non-cable [as written], strong support for private farmers, and encouragement for investment in the processing industry. “Soon,” Berisha said, Ishëm… [the source text is unclear here: “atyre uja himi të veçantë”] the citizens of Manzë that the Democratic Party would draw up a special program for Manzë’s development, over the next four years. At the meeting with the residents of Manzë, Berisha expressed his support for 70% of the Democratic Party’s structures, without any courage whatsoever the Red Front,” Berisha told the former mafia members. “Those who for 50 years destroyed everything they built are continuing to insult the Democratic Party every day in the same language. The Red Front,” he said, “is preparing another dangerous attack on democracy. They tried to put more than 100 former communist secret-police collaborators into the next Parliament.” On the way back from Ishëm, President Berisha made three more brief stops. Along the way he met and spoke with several residents who had come all the way from the villages of Kukës to spend the summer with their flocks. They expressed their gratitude and support for the Democratic Party and the President. “The flock is ours now,” they said. “Just five years ago we struggled with the cooperative’s flock and were paid very little.” There were also spontaneous meetings in the villages of Skafand and Armathë. Here, too, the residents assured the President that they would vote for the Democratic Party because they saw in it their future, the guarantee of their property, progress, prosperity and everything good.

The 26 May elections in Albania Says Xhonas Rollet, official of the American National Democratic Institute The American Democratic Institute has been contributing to the development of democratic structures in Albania for five years. Its work has focused particularly on the electoral process, both its technical and administrative aspects and the monitoring of voting on election day, reports the Voice of America radio service. For 26 May, the American Democratic Institute will have around 10 international observers in Albania. Xhonas Rollet, an official of the American National Democratic Institute and its representative in Albania during 1993–94, says that the 26 May elections are important for affirming Albania’s place on the democratic path. As in other countries around the world where democracy is still young, in Albania too, Mr. Rollet says, the level of confidence people show in the country’s institutions is satisfactory, and this shows that people are free to determine their own fate through their vote. Thus, according to a recent poll organized by the American Democratic Institute, 41% of Albanians had a positive opinion of Parliament, 49% expressed a positive opinion of the presidency, and around 40% had a positive opinion of the government. Considering the progress democracy has achieved in Albania over the last five years, Mr. Rollet expresses optimism about the country’s future. “The essence of democracy,” Mr. Rollet says, “lies precisely in free debate, through which people become engaged and take part in the processes taking place in the country, and in this respect the future looks promising.”

On the occasion of the presentation of credentials Yesterday, the President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, received the Ambassador of Japan, Jushu Takashima, on the occasion of the presentation of his credentials. At the meeting held on this occasion, President Berisha thanked the Japanese government for the assistance it has provided to Albania, both bilaterally and multilaterally. The financial assistance, the President stressed, has been very valuable to us, and we would like it to continue in the future as well; he assured him that Japanese investments would be welcome in Albania. President Berisha also conveyed his greetings to Mr. Takashima for Emperor Akihito. For his part, Ambassador Jushu Takashima praised the reforms carried out in Albania over the past four years and stressed that Japan would intensify its assistance to Albania. *** Also Ambassador of Finland, Tapio Sarela, on the occasion of the presentation of his credentials. On this occasion, the President thanked the ambassador for the good relations between our two countries and expressed his confidence that they would develop further in the future. For his part, the Finnish ambassador, Ahitsari, and [the text is unclear] expressed Finland’s satisfaction at raising relations between the two countries to a higher level.

Declares the Socialist mayor of Bajram Curri

—Then why are you running as a candidate in a village? Page 3 PUK takes a vacant constituency from PAD Socialists replace Pashko with Korita

—They answer themselves through articles published in their newspaper “ZP” a few years ago In this new section, “RD” will introduce you to the leaders and parliamentary candidates of the SP in the elections of 26 May 1996. To make this “presentation,” we have found a simple way: by presenting precisely what the SP candidates wrote in their own hand in the newspaper “ZP” during 1990–91. Today we begin by publishing articles by the SP deputy chairman, Namik Dokle, the most “renewed” figure in that party.