Lord FINSBERG declared: We expressed to representatives of the political parties from Albania our recommendations for beginning a dialogue. They should sit down together and discuss the problems between the government and the opposition constructively. Many of the opposition’s claims were not logical.

The legitimacy of the newly elected Albanian Parliament cannot be questioned. This was stipulated yesterday by the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, leaving the Albanian left-wing opposition abandoned after its unceasing efforts to secure an anti-parliamentary opinion in Europe. Yesterday’s resolution of the European Parliamentary Assembly definitively establishes the legitimacy of the Democratic Party’s victory in the 26 May elections, including in the eyes of European public opinion. Addressing irregularities in the electoral process, the Parliamentary Assembly confirms the opposition’s culpability for withdrawing from the elections. The responsibility of the socialists, social democrats and alliance members was ultimately formulated in the same terms in Albania and in Strasbourg. The legitimacy of the opposition’s boycott is essential to clearly defining the political reality in Albania. The Red Front’s aim of preventing the old system from breaking apart in Albania, along with the elements that created the Albania of dictatorship, places them in direct opposition to all the developments in Albania over the past four years. They have not behaved like an opposition, and this is the essence of how these forces relate to the processes of democratizing the country’s economy, institutions and politics. Their position has been destructive and aimed at reversing the system, not merely changing those in power, which would be normal in a democratic Albania. The so-called democratic boycott of the elections is a revolutionary method and can find its roots only in Marxist theory, which has not been absent from the Albanian socialist program. It is precisely for this reason that the opposition’s withdrawal on the day Albania’s institutions were renewed also brings down punishment on the Red Front from the Council of Europe. As for the governing party’s responsibility for electoral irregularities, it declared this from the outset and called for the elections to be repeated in the areas with the most irregularities. They were repeated, and the Democratic Party won in all those areas. The other side tried to disguise its share of responsibility through populist actions and electoral-style slogans, even though the campaign was over. The far left has never accepted responsibility for its actions, nor has it responded to the ruling party’s overtures to participate in the elections. The leaders of this extreme have not viewed power as linked to the democratic functioning of a country, but to violence, which they had threatened even before their defeat. If their absence from Parliament—even in the middle of it—demonstrates anything, it is that they are unable to withstand Albania’s democratic climate and the freedom of elections to choose according to their aspirations. The resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe gives the extreme left an opportunity to assess itself: whether it can belong to a country guided by its own development and respect a system different from the communist one. Otherwise, all that remains for them is to continue their withdrawal to its ultimate conclusion.

1. The Assembly is outraged by the violence and irregularities observed in the latest parliamentary elections in Albania. 2. Several opposition parties withdrew from the elections at the end of the first day of voting. They decided to boycott the second round and the subsequent partial elections in 17 electoral constituencies. 3. The Assembly notes the unanimous report of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s observer delegation, which states that although the legitimacy of the newly elected Albanian Parliament cannot be questioned, the credibility of the democratic process has been damaged. The Assembly should also consider the other reports. The Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing with the main Albanian political parties in Strasbourg on 24 June 1996. Based on the information gathered at this hearing, the Assembly considers that while the government bears responsibility for the violence, both the government and the opposition are responsible for the irregularities. 4. Free and fair elections are a cornerstone of pluralist democracy. They are an essential condition for membership in the CoE and, for the same reason, for participation in the Parliamentary Assembly. 5. Confidence in Albanian democracy must be restored. Reconciliation and dialogue between the political forces are essential. The free expression of the will of all sections of the Albanian population must be guaranteed. The Assembly therefore proposes a round table of all political forces to provide a framework for democratic dialogue between the government and the opposition. Full cooperation between all political forces in Albania and the CoE would be essential. The relevant legislation should be amended in accordance with the recommendations set out in the OSCE Assembly’s report and with the commitments made by Albania upon joining the Council of Europe. The political parties should consider holding new elections after these legislative changes. 6. The Assembly calls on the Albanian Parliament to assist in the process described above by creating the appropriate framework and giving priority to legislation implementing the recommendations of the OSCE and the CoE, including the amendment or repeal of the genocide law. 7. The Assembly calls on all political forces in Albania to overcome the current crisis. It is ready to facilitate ongoing discussion as part of this dialogue.

Interview with the Chairman of the PDSH, Prof. Dr. Tritan Shehu Page 3

-Finsberg: “If the opposition does not return to Parliament, this will be a sign that it has no desire to develop democracy in Albania” -Amendments proposed by part of the left are rejected -Dokle also votes for the resolution that considers the Albanian Parliament legitimate By EDI PALOKA Page 3

Berisha’s telegrams to the American President and the King of Saudi Arabia The President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, sent telegrams of condolence to the King of Saudi Arabia, Fahd Bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, and the American President, Bill Klinton, in which he condemned the terrorist act against the military air base in Khobar, where many people, including Americans, lost their lives or were seriously injured. President Berisha expressed his sincere condolences to them and to the victims’ families.

Albanian communists use the strategies of the Nazis According to European parliamentarians, the former Albanian communists are no more and no less than the Nazis of the 1930s. The permanent boycott they have chosen to hold Albania’s fragile democracy hostage has its only model in German society, which was a victim of the Nazi dictatorship. Following the steps of the left after 26 May, the criminalized Albanian left chose a boycott as a strategy to impose a rapid return to the power that the people’s free vote had systematically denied it since the fall of Enver Hoxha’s dictatorship. This time, the strategy chosen by Albania’s criminalized left to come to power takes as its model people who have shown themselves to be unrestrained in the violence and terror they inflicted on humanity. Before the European parliamentarians, Çeka, Dokle, Gjinushi and Kakalulla, from the parties of the left, showed that, in order to come to power, they are seeking to combine their boycott with the isolation they want to bring back to Albania. The criminalized left knows very well that closed borders are highly favourable to the triumph of its theories of violence and terror over the free lives of Albanians. The remarks made by those who speak for the Red Front about their country’s democracy, and their insistence on demanding punishment for the Albanian state, have led the European parliamentarians to view every claim by the left with suspicion. Their self-exposure, threats and parliamentary intrigues in the CoE Assembly have led them to see the Nazis of the 1930s in Albania’s communists of 1996.

Interview with the Chairman of the Tirana Court, Mr. Qazim GJONAJ Page 6

In an interview he gave to Albanian Television, broadcast yesterday, Mr. Rozher Zejler, President of the “Miss Europa” International Committee, stated that Miss Europa ’96 will be held in Tirana in September. Page 5 Miss Europa ’96 in Tirana

The legitimacy of the Albanian Parliament cannot be questioned