President Berisha concluded his visit to Krans Montana The small Swiss town of Krans Montana, known in Europe as a tourist destination for its exceptional natural beauty, has in recent years also become known as a meeting place for major leaders. For five years now, heads of state, prime ministers, prominent business figures and analysts have gathered here at the Krans Montana Forum to discuss issues concerning the balance between different regions of the world, the peace process and cooperation. The Krans Montana Forum is considered a privileged gathering for international representatives. Security measures are extremely stringent, and journalists are the first people not to be admitted. Exclusive coverage of the Krans Montana proceedings is granted only to the international European news network EURONEWS. Among the more than 50 heads of state, prime ministers, political leaders and other prominent figures from the business world participating in the Swiss Forum. Swiss President Zhan Paskal Delamuraz hosted an official dinner at the “Dëgolf” hotel, a hotel reserved exclusively for heads of state. The Swiss President thanked those present for attending and described the Forum as an important event because it keeps established international ties alive and gives them new dimensions. In Krans Montana, President Berisha and Mrs. Berisha had the opportunity to greet and meet with prominent figures in their field. On the morning of 21 June, President Berisha met with the current OSCE Chairperson and Swiss Foreign Minister Flavio Cotti. After a preliminary discussion of various events in Albania, the meeting focused on the latest political developments in the country. President Berisha confirmed to Flavio Cotti that we are open to dialogue, a willingness that we have demonstrated and will continue to demonstrate. Just as we have acknowledged the irregularities and our commitment to correcting them, we are determined to go further in implementing reform, Berisha said. We respect and are grateful to the European institutions and are working to expand cooperation with them. Flavio Cotti, for his part, praised Albania’s significant achievements and the very good relations between Albania and Switzerland, and commended Albania’s offer to the OSCE’s ODIHR Chair, Ambassador Glover, to visit Tirana. Also on Friday, President Berisha met with the Prime Minister of Macedonia, Cërvenkovski. Berisha said at the meeting that we are interested in Macedonia’s stability; this is important for you and for the region, but the key factor for stability is harmony and understanding between the Albanians and Macedonians there. Therefore, Berisha said, in our discussions we insist on the participation of Albanians in all aspects of life in Macedonia. Cërvenkovski, for his part, congratulated President Berisha on his victory in the elections of 20 May and wished him success. On Friday afternoon, President Berisha also met with the UN Deputy Secretary-General based in Geneva, Petrovsk(i). Berisha received congratulations from Petrovski on his victory in the elections of 26 May, as well as an invitation to visit the UN headquarters in Geneva. The meeting discussed opportunities for Albania to cooperate with the UN’s economic organizations based in Geneva. Yesterday began with a working breakfast hosted by President Berisha with political and business figures who have already taken an interest in Albania. This was followed by an exclusive interview President Berisha gave to the “EURO NEWS” television network. On Saturday morning, a special session of the Krans Montana Forum was devoted to the latest democratic developments in Albania. The session’s theme was “Albania Toward the Next Century.” It attracted considerable interest from the politicians, analysts, journalists and businesspeople attending the forum. the entire new government. Berish and Cervenovski expressed satisfaction with the course of relations between the two countries and with the establishment [?] of further cooperation in telecommunications, transport, including military matters, tax relief and the movement of people. Deputy Secretary-General based in Geneva, Petrovskin. Berisha received congratulations from Petrovvski ... After President Berisha’s speech, Mr. Kalteron, President of the Krans Montana Forum, invited the observers who had taken part in the elections in Albania to present the conclusions of their observations. The parliamentarians’ view at the session was that the elections for the new Albanian Parliament had been honest, free and fair, despite some limited irregularities. The opposition’s withdrawal from the elections was described as unjustified and apparently premeditated. When asked whether this was a united left-wing group, Kristinë Stoun, Chair of the British Helsinki Group and an observer of our elections, replied that, as she understood it, they were people with similar left-wing convictions who worked closely toward one goal. We have already expressed our view that the elections in Albania were free, fair and honest, Kristian Stoun said, but we will present our report very soon. Mark Almond, a member of the British Helsinki Group, after praising the changes made in Albania so far, said of the elections that the British group’s observers had generally found that voting in Albania had proceeded normally. We observed the elections ourselves, Almond said, and found that they took place in Albania, where the level of irregularities, he said, was minimal, while the report was very critical. The report was of this nature, Almond explained, because the people who influenced it had adopted predetermined positions. We also contacted the opposition, Almond continued, and they complained of irregularities both before and after the elections. We therefore went ourselves to the places where irregularities were alleged and found these claims to be baseless. Austrian parliamentarian Grosruk said that he had observed all three rounds with members of parliament and other representatives from Europe, and that the general opinion was that the elections in Albania had been conducted properly. As for the various claims of irregularities and manipulation, Grosruk said, this is an organized manipulation of public opinion by the Albanian socialists and left-wing circles in Europe. We must and will help Albania, Grosruk said, on its path toward democracy, a market economy and integration into Europe. During the discussion at the session, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Vice-President Vili Vimer also asked to speak. He said that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly had prepared a report on the elections in Albania. According to this report, the elections were fair, and the parliament that emerged from them is legitimate. I would express my astonishment, Mr. Vimer said, at the statement and remarks by the OSCE Chairperson, Mr. Flavio Cotti, about sending a special representative to Albania. Vimer also conveyed these views in an interview with Albanian TV and the Euro News network, and with journalists from the Reuters and AFP news agencies. A Swiss parliamentarian and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe asked President Berisha how he would respond to the suggestion by some that the elections in Albania be repeated. President Berisha replied that he would respect, to the very end, the free vote of the Albanian people. He said that the next elections in Albania would be held in the year 2000, in accordance with Albania’s constitutional law. No one, President Berisha said, will use the communist boycott to undermine the free will of the Albanians. We will not allow those who replace the proletarian revolution with a communist boycott, and permanent revolution with a permanent boycott, to act. Yesterday afternoon President Berisha returned to Athens. were conducted in accordance with the law. There were, of course, irregularities in limited areas, but we found these elections to be free and honest. Almond expressed surprise about the ODIHR report, since, as Almond said, for elections in other countries such as Armenia, Georgia, etc., where there have been major irregularities, including the killing of parliamentary candidates or the banning of opposition parties, ODIHR issued a very favorable report. As for Albania, where the level of irregularities, Almond said, was minimal, nature, Almond explained, because the people who I presented those achievements of the reforms in Albania over these four years. Then, using facts, he described the course of the election campaign and the elections in Albania. Once again, at this international forum, Berisha said that the elections in Albania, without denying the irregularities, had been fair, free and honest, within acceptable standards. He assured those present at the Forum that there would be no repeat elections in Albania, and that the mandate won through the free vote of May 26 would be used to consolidate the values of democracy, the rule of law and the market economy. As for the elections themselves, Almond said, and we observed that they took place in Albania, where the reforms in Albania over these four years were presented. four years were presented.

. The OSCE has never requested that the elections in Albania be held again. Official sources in Vienna have rejected reports linking the important European institution for the protection of human rights to statements at odds with one another, such as those calling for the elections to be repeated. “The Organization has not called for general elections,” says the OSCE response carried by foreign news agencies. The demand exploited by the Albanian communist beasts is the position of a delegation from one of the OSCE countries. About 40 other delegations from these member states of the OSCE ... About 40 other delegations from all European countries, the USA and Canada have preferred to insist that the OSCE help open a political dialogue between the government and the opposition, which has chosen a total boycott. The official position defended by the OSCE is in line with earlier statements by the European Union and the US State Department, which, after welcoming the holding of the partial elections on 16 June, call on the defeated opposition to sit at the negotiating table with the victors. The Democratic Party has repeatedly offered dialogue to the left, who abandoned the electoral contest when they lost hope of manipulating the voting results. While preparations for the partial elections in 17 electoral districts were under way, the DP indicated that it would support a decision by the Constitutional Court to postpone election day, as the left had said, half-heartedly, that it wanted. Before the DP’s offer of tolerance to reduce tensions, the SP and its allies, continuing their absurd positions, demanded not a different date for the partial elections, but that they be repeated throughout the country. The establishment of political dialogue has been systematically sabotaged by the left, which remains under the control of former communist leaders deeply compromised by their dictatorial past. Following Europe’s and the USA’s statements calling for political dialogue between the opposition and the government, reports soon emerged of the left-wing extremists’ schemes for demonstrations, hunger strikes and street clashes. While the Democratic Party has the overwhelming majority of Albanians’ votes, the systematic support of most of the electorate, and an entire file documenting its electoral claims case by case, as well as an entire file documenting the opposition’s claims and a file on fines and manipulation, the left are trying to convince Europe, using the report of a group of observers with entirely dubious status and composition, that free elections were not held in Albania. Faced with evidence that free elections were held in Albania, the Democratic Party and the moderate, constructive elected representatives of the Socialist Party will be Albanian; the former communists have sounded the alarm among all their old right-wing friends, but also among as many as possible, to denigrate them as part of extremist left-wing circles in Europe and prevent their country from being isolated from European democracy. Despite their preparations, which ultimately seek to keep Albania in the fate of the latter, which ultimately seeks ultimately seeks to keep Albania in the fate of the latter, they have, however, never questioned the election result, but have, however, never questioned the election result, but have, however, never questioned the election result. [?]

At the request of German MEP Otto Von Hasburg: According to confirmation from Austrian Members of the European Parliament, at the request of German MEP Otto Von Hasburg, a member of the German parliamentary right-wing group on the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, the issue of the elections in Albania and this Parliament’s resolution will be discussed. Otto Von Hasburg has protested the procedure followed in discussing and adopting the resolution initiated by the left-wing group in the European Parliament, and at his request it has been decided that this issue will be examined in greater detail by the Foreign Affairs Committee of this body at a date in the near future.

President Berisha rules out new elections According to the AFP news agency, President Sali Berisha categorically ruled out yesterday in Krans Montana the holding of new parliamentary elections in Albania, despite international pressure from the left, which followed a large number of allegations of manipulation and an opposition boycott of Parliament. “There will be no repeat elections in Albania. I say this very clearly on behalf of all those who freely cast their vote in a sovereign country,” he declared at the Krans Montana Forum, where political leaders and businesspeople had gathered. President Berisha’s Democratic Party won 122 of the Parliament’s total 140 seats by direct vote in the elections of May 26 and June 2, plus the seats it won on June 16 in voting held in 17 areas because of irregularities. A report prepared by government observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) sharply criticizes the vote for failing to respect international standards. However, the representative of the observers sent by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly assured those attending the meeting that the elections in Albania had been “fully in keeping with the standards observed in other Eastern European countries”. German Christian Democrat Vili Vimer, Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, said he was “surprised” by the public criticism voiced by the OSCE’s current president, Swiss Foreign Minister Flavio Cotti, and by the organization’s governmental group. He stated that the OSCE would try to resolve its internal disagreements at a meeting to be held on July 5 in Stockholm. Adding to the confusion, many European election observers assured President Berisha, refuting allegations of fraud and manipulation. On Thursday, the European Parliament called on President Berisha to annul the elections. Meanwhile, the United States said it was reassured by the repeat vote in areas where there had been serious irregularities. The Council of Europe is due to consider the issue next week. Albanian opposition parties, primarily the largest one, the Socialist Party, made up of former communists, boycotted the elections from the first round and called for new elections. They have also declined to take their seats in Parliament. President Berisha acknowledged that there had been irregularities, explaining that Albania was not yet able to organize elections as free and fair as those in other Western European countries. But the government achieved a victory on the basis of the successes of four years of reform and democratization following the fall of Enver Hoxha’s former dictatorship,” he assured them. He promised to improve voting conditions in the next local elections. “The next legislative elections will be held as scheduled in 2000, not before,” he added. He criticized what he called “our foreign press” and said the opposition had committed “political suicide” by boycotting the elections. Briton Mark Almond, who observed the elections for the Helsinki Group of the Human Rights organization, stressed that the criticism was based on rumors, since his organization had found no concrete irregularities. Austrian MP Volfgang Grosruk, who was present during the three days of voting, said he had observed “no falsification and no manipulation”. He assured them that “everything was conducted with great propriety”. He also accused certain groups of spreading these rumors in Europe. “There will be no repeat elections in Albania”

President Sali Berisha

Regarding the false news spread by the Red Front’s rags “Zëri i Popullit” and “Koha Jonë” about [?] the existence of an agreement signed by the Presidency with the firm Jack Buechner Manatt and Co, the President’s spokesperson clarifies as follows: No agreement exists between the Presidency and this firm on any matter. No agreement exists between the Presidency and any other firm on any matter, regardless of the many offers that various firms may have sent this institution, as well as other institutions, over the past four years to help Albania with public relations. All the commotion is an unscrupulous slander by the wretches of the Red Front, who are trying to compensate for their utter self-satisfaction with a campaign of deception.