Mirush Mati, head of the DP’s Department of Organization, discusses the election strategy Everything in the Democratic Party has been made ready for it to take the field in a dignified election campaign. A detailed programme with stages, important political moves, slogans, the necessary lists, and working groups down to the most remote section make up the DP’s pre-election landscape. A powerful machine, described by this DP citizen, who heads the central campaign headquarters together with the best social, political, economic and election-campaign management experts. This is the first picture of the Democratic Party’s preparations for the early general elections, according to Mirush Mati, head of the Organization Department of this party. The DP’s Organization Office has a heavy workload. Hundreds of activists, party workers and local leaders continue communicating with the centers, bringing in information and receiving the latest instructions. Mr. Mati tells “RD” that “the DP’s election machine will have this central headquarters, the headquarters of the local Branch, and the municipal election headquarters. According to Mati, these headquarters have been set up from the outset as part of the DP’s major programme, which covered the period (2–10 May).” The period up to 15 May is the time when candidates for parliament will be selected. According to Mati, the Democratic Party has a very large number of figures who will run for parliament. Outstanding political, social and scientific talents will represent and defend the DP’s programme throughout Albania. “We add,” says the head of the Organization Department. According to Mr. Mati, the DP has also defined its responsibilities for the compromises at network level and at polling centers, while it has prepared to make a strong presentation of its candidates. Commenting on the DP’s campaign preparations, Mr. Mati said that they are working on a modern election campaign. “But we strongly demand that the Government of National Reconciliation ensure law and order and calm, so that every party is free to present its ideas and programmes.” Mati stresses that the relevant DP committees have worked to ensure the normal conduct of the elections. Therefore, this party must discuss these matters, and presentations of the authorities’ measures have been made. The Democratic Party strongly supports free and fair elections, but will also seek massive support on 9 May, as demonstrated by the DP’s Organization Department. MBYCAPAL

—According to Rome— TIRANA, 10 May /AFP/— Italian Defence Minister Beniamino Andreatta declared on Saturday in Tirana that he would send “thousands” of international observers to the upcoming Albanian elections and that the Multinational Protection Force would have to guarantee their security. To achieve this objective and guarantee “calm and transparent elections,” it will be necessary to “see whether, depending on the needs, further assistance will be required and what form it will take,” Andreatta said at a press conference. Under a “political contract” signed on Friday in Tirana by the ten main political parties, legislative elections must be held before the end of June. Protecting the observers—which could require a much more effective presence and would have to be defined in cooperation with the OSCE and contributing countries—fits very well within the remit of the MPF, which must guarantee the security of international organizations in Albania, the minister stressed. Furthermore, he said it would be a good idea for the Force to be deployed partly in the country’s major population centers to prevent anarchy and the rule of armed gangs, leaving the military in the field to study the practical possibilities for carrying this out. Acknowledging that the MPF’s three-month mandate, which expires at the end of June, could be extended by a further 90 days if “the elections are postponed for reasons acceptable to all Albanians,” Andreatta said that an extension of the mandate, requested by some Albanian political forces, “will be difficult to secure from the international authorities and the national parliaments” of the contributing countries. “Finally, he hinted that if the Albanian political forces lose the ability to reach a compromise on the elections,” the MPF could withdraw from Albania.

In this draft law brought before us by the Government of National Reconciliation, I see an insistence on concealing the truth from Albanians, on excluding from the effects of the transparency law precisely those companies that caused the unprecedented ruin in Albania. Transparency demanded by the people must be achieved I have also asked in this parliament that the lists be published of those major beneficiaries who, according to the people, received sums of more than 5,000, 10,000 or more dollars from the Giallica company. I asked for this, among other reasons, because people from Vlora asked me to. Page 4

The DP branch in Fier held a meeting We have every chance of winning again in the June elections. It is in Albania’s interest for the DP to win together with the right-wing forces, in order to prevent the PS and its satellites from coming to power. Page 3

The parliamentary Mass Media Committee discusses the draft law on public and private radio and television TIRANA—The parliamentary Mass Media Committee yesterday discussed several issues that had arisen concerning the draft law on public and private radio and television, which is expected to be submitted for approval at a parliamentary session on Monday. The committee’s co-chairman, MP Lazër Stani, told RD that the draft aims to provide a very liberal law for the radio and television market in Albania. The version presented to the committee was based on French media law, with amendments drawn from Italian law. Experts from the Council of Europe contributed to its drafting, and officials from the US Embassy in Tirana also submitted their observations. Describing it as a draft law meeting European standards, Stani emphasized that its swift approval by parliament would fill a legal vacuum for electronic media in Albania. Under the draft, the current RTV, which will be transformed into a public RTV, will be independent, under the authority of a national council of seven members: six will be elected by parliament (half by the governing majority and half by the opposition), and one by the president. The draft also carefully addresses frequency planning; licenses are issued only for a specific service and subject to the fulfilment of certain criteria. A license for national television will be granted to applicants who can prove that they have capital of one million dollars, while local television applicants must prove that they have capital of 100,000 dollars; for national radio, 200,000 dollars is sufficient. The draft provides for licenses to be granted for the establishment of television stations for national minorities as well; [?] broadcasting in the Albanian language, and original and imported programmes must not exceed the 40-to-60 percent ratio. The draft under discussion does not allow the creation of monopolies in the media, where such groups are formed by joint-stock companies: no shareholder may hold more than 25 percent of their control, and an Albanian shareholder may not hold more than 20 percent of the shares. As envisaged in the draft, radio and television stations may not be owned by political forces. The MPs on the Mass Media Committee expected their amendments to the draft to be assessed by a group of Council of Europe experts, who had announced that they would arrive in the Albanian capital yesterday afternoon. ARTUR KOPANI

Zani’s gang kidnaps and robs a well-known businessman in Vlora of 50,000 dollars “Hot knives” and “red-hot wires” are the instruments used last Tuesday by the “intellectuals” Zani and Latif against Pellumb Petriti (a well-known businessman in Vlora), in an operation by Zani, the PS gang leader in Vlora, who said that “this was the fight against the rich.” For 38 hours, the businessman was subjected to the whim of the city’s captors and to inhuman torture at a base of the Committee of Salvation gang, known as the “Oil Well,” in the direction of Uji i Ftohtë. After he was forced to pay 50,000 dollars, the armed wing of the PS, with which this party had signed an agreement on 28 March, itself announced through A. Latif and Zani that the fight against the new Albanian capitalists was The instruments used last Tuesday by the “intellectuals” Zani and Latif against Pellumb Petriti (a well-known businessman in Vlora), Zani said, were part of “the fight against the rich.” For 38 hours, the businessman was subjected to the city’s whim and to inhuman torture at a base of the Committee of Salvation gang, known as the “Oil Well,” in the direction of Uji i Ftohtë. A certain kind of man, an honest and brave person, [?] addressed the whole country, the state and law-enforcement bodies, and all the political forces in the country: “Do something for Vlora.”

The son of Kiço Mustaqi arrested in Greece Page 2

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He meets Prodi and Dini in Rome Page 2