The National Council of the Democratic Party sets out the platform for strong opposition, renewal and restructuring throughout the country . It was decided that the party would enter parliament after the latter had ruled on the arbitrary suspension of Laço and Bushati. The working group that will prepare the National Congress was voted on and approved. The PD’s parliamentary structures were appointed. Rapid reorganization of the party in the South’s flashpoint areas will play a decisive role. Here is the group that will prepare the National Congress 1. Leonard DEMI 2. Ferdinand XHAFERRI 3. Genc POLLO 4. Engjëll HYSENBEGASI 5. Vili MINAROLLI 6. Jemin GJANA 7. Pjetër ARBNORI 8. Fatos BEJA 9. Bamir TOPI 10. Jozefina TOPALLI 11. Albert BROJKA 12. Luigj GJOKA 13. Emin RIZA 14. Ylli VEJSIU 15. Ormir RUSI 16. Ridvan BODE 17. Natasha SHEHU 18. Buron KACELI 19. Afrim HACI 20. Pëllumb ÇELA 21. Ilir BANO 22. Azem HAJDARI 23. Marjeta PRONJARI 24. Arben XHIKU 25. Margarita QIRKO 26. Luan MALLTEZI 27. Agim PARILLAKU Leadership of the parliamentary group Genc POLLO — chairman Jemin GJANA — deputy chairman Ferdinand XHAFERRI — deputy chairman For Deputy Speaker of Parliament Pjetër ARBNORI Jozefina TOPALLI The deputies of the Kalashnikovs bow to pressure from the democratic forces in the country and the international community

No voting took place at four polling stations Protest by the Democratic Party, Shkodër branch The Albanian Democratic Party, Shkodër branch, protested yesterday regarding Sunday’s vote in Zone 4, where its candidate was the Democratic Party’s alternative candidate, Mr. Ali Spahia. There are two compelling reasons why the Shkodër branch is protesting the vote. The first concerns the PDSH process two days ago, involving the act of stealing the CEC seal by the CEC deputy chairman—a flagrant act in violation of the law—and the signing by those same people of the results in these areas. Secondly, Shkodër’s Democrats are protesting because of the pressure and disputes that arose over the voting of their spouses in Ulqin by the CEC,” which led to voting not taking place at four polling stations, specifically polling station No. 10, Gjimaj; polling station No. 23, Papsunaj; polling station No. 27, Plan; and polling station No. 28, Kuje. The failure to vote at these stations affected 877 voters and significantly influenced the final election results. Tirana, 11.08.1997

The deputies of the Kalashnikovs bow to pressure from the democratic forces in the country and the international community Bushati and Laço regain their mandates The socialist deputies yielded yesterday in the face of intense pressure from the democratic forces in the country as well as international pressure. Zef Bushati and Teodor Laço won their mandates yesterday, allowing them to enter parliament, after the unprecedented refusal of their mandates on the first day of the People’s Assembly’s proceedings. By a majority vote, Parliament reversed the decision it had made only three weeks earlier. In the Mandates and Verification Commission, Fehmi Abdulliu had rejected the admission to Parliament of two deputies on the PD list, violating all procedures and undermining the democratic nature of this parliament. This was immediately followed by protests from the PD and other right-wing forces, which also raised awareness among international organizations; these called for the Bushati and Laço issue to be urgently reconsidered in parliament. The PD deputies decided to make their entry into parliament conditional, among other things, on the restoration of Bushati and Laço’s mandates. The leadership of the People’s Assembly called for a single vote on the two deputies, a proposal also supported by Majko, chairman of the SP parliamentary group. The conservative group within the SP, led by Gramoz Ruçi, opposed this, but such a vote went ahead. In the first vote, only Bushati won; Laço failed to obtain the necessary number of votes. A meeting of the SP parliamentary group led to a repeat vote, drawing at least four votes away from the communist wing of the SP deputies—the number Laço needed to enter parliament. The result was extremely close, but Laço won the parliamentary mandate that had been unjustly denied to him. It was the first time that the parliament of the Kalashnikovs had not voted 100 percent in favor. This pattern was broken not in the case of illegal votes, but only when it became necessary to correct the scandalous conduct of the parliament of the Kalashnikovs. After the vote, deputy Zef Bushati said that Parliament had done what it should have done on its very first day. “I said from the beginning,” he said, “that rejecting the two mandates was a political act. It seems the socialists have understood that the spirit of the National Parliament cannot be replaced by the spirit of revenge,” Bushati concluded. S.N.

Agim Gjihani is killed by a criminal hand and two others are wounded Serious incident near Pyramid 51 A group of Greek soldiers killed an Albanian and wounded two others yesterday after entering deep into our territory in the village of Vidohovë, in the district of Korçë. According to the ENTR news agency, the incident took place at around 16:30 yesterday, when a hail of gunfire from the Greeks killed Agim Gjihani of Vidohovë and wounded two of his fellow villagers. The armed soldiers had crossed the border near Pyramid 51, close to the village of Vidohovë, and continued on their way unhindered until they reached the scene of the crime. After the killing, they left the area, spreading terror and panic among the villagers there. This is another serious incident on the Greek-Albanian border in recent times. Three years ago, a Greek commando unit attacked a military post in the village of Peshkëpi, in Gjirokastër, killing two Albanian soldiers. A.GJ

Wanted by the police, he becomes head of the Criminal Investigation Department in Elbasan Interior Minister Neritan Ceka appointed, last week, as head of the Criminal Police, one of the people on the list of individuals wanted by the Elbasan police for two years. The new chief, Josif Muçolli, is accused of the disappearance of more than 47 tons of cement while they were guarding the Cement Factory in this city. This fact severely compromises the slogans of the head of the socialist government, Fatos Nano, when he says that administrative changes will be made on the basis of “meritocracy,” and so on. It seems that the socialist government’s criteria are based on selecting a bunch of bandits, robbers, thieves and criminals, who, naturally, must hold a bright red party card. Meanwhile, Minister Ceka has dismissed dozens and dozens of specialists and experts in order to put in their place people who have become fervent defenders of themselves or of the revolutionary subjects, who had been against all this and had pursued an entirely different policy when they attacked the old critics. In addition, the stance of the criminals is growing more entrenched; the latest incident makes the government’s conduct a matter for severe judgment, and all of this is the attitude of crime and murder, which is opening its doors to itself from the very first days. A.KOPANI