The League Against Dictatorship invites Tirana to protest The “League Against Dictatorship” invites all the citizens of Tirana tomorrow, November 5, 1998, at 16:30, to a powerful protest against the current government, which continues: 1 - to protect the organizers and perpetrators of the murder of leader Hajdari 2 - the political imprisonment of opposition members 3 - the information blackout against the opposition 4 - corruption, smuggling, and failure to establish law and order 5 - to raise prices and spread poverty.

The government gives money for the imprisonment of opposition members ON PAGE 4

The PD has not changed a comma in its decision: Democrats stay away from the ballot boxes on November 22 Berisha: The sovereign, in all its signs, information and sentiments, is determined this time to scorn the passport of the government leaders, who are a true national calamity ON PAGE 3

Illegal government decision. Albanian emigrants are excluded from the voter lists The PD calls on local officials not to implement the unconstitutional decision signed by Arben Demeti, but to follow only the law on referendums ON PAGE 3

By Sami Neza The special warfare launched by the regime against the option of boycotting the referendum will not manage to add even a single one to the handful of Socialist militants who will head to the ballot boxes on November 22. Democrats are fully convinced of their position: one does not go to a referendum on a constitution alongside terrorists, an incriminated government and Parliament, just as one can never vote for a falsified constitution produced by a government that seeks to collect votes through censorship, distortion and deception of public opinion. The falsifiers of the constitution are now turning into falsifiers of Albanian public opinion as well. For several days, a decision has been issued by the government, and the government and its instruments have continued to exert great pressure to remove emigrants from the voter lists, thereby artificially presenting five million people as eligible for the referendum. The scramble to find people to vote on the constitution has fuelled the imagination of those in power, who are trying to reduce as much as possible the number of people on the lists—specifically, those who may or may not be able to come to Albania on referendum day. Their reasoning is that emigrants do not come to vote, even though they have never been excluded from voting from 1991 until now. They have not been excluded from other referendums, local elections, parliamentary elections or partial local elections. This is just like removing from the lists all PD members and supporters who have said they will not go to the referendum, thereby selecting for November 22 a larger share of voters in favour of the constitution, while excluding anti-Albanian elements, terrorists, mafia figures and smugglers. At least the emigrants or their associations have yet to confirm whether they are for or against the constitution, or whether they will come to the referendum. The selection of eligible voters proposed by the authors of the constitution is merely a continuation of the logic that leads to changing the law on referendums. Meanwhile, evidence of the work being done in the polling centres and election administration points to ideological direction from the government’s upper echelons, aimed at directly influencing voters’ choices among the alternatives on offer. A kind of Socialist ideological campaign has been politically launched, stirring emotions; facts have not been consulted with the various organizations in Tirana and other cities. Similar ideological appeals have also been made to many non-governmental organizations, which should be mindful not to fall into such a propaganda trap amid the promotion of political alternatives, with one side coming from the left and the other from the right. The government’s declared control of a state TV station and its inclusion in a special campaign against the opposing public opinion is a violation of the state and the legal order. For days, the state screen and similar screens have been broadcasting fabricated news and statements by violent leaders, making it seem that power is being declared outright rather than being allowed to emerge freely. The PD has not changed a single point of its position to boycott the referendum. In every way, both in the draft constitution and in the referendum law, the government has carried out falsification regarding those who will come to Albania on referendum day, regardless of the special warfare and propaganda surrounding the constitution and the public or information tools used for the referendum. But this is only the beginning of such a campaign. The alternative of the Democrats and the country’s right-wing forces may also be confronted with other productions, as people from mass gangs and former officials are brought onto the scene, in the roles they once held. The special warfare against public opinion over the constitution is being waged with increasing ferocity, and the current government’s means are becoming increasingly extreme against Albanian voters and the electorate.

Yesterday, workers from the Tirana Beer Factory demonstrated in front of the Ministry of Privatization and the Prime Minister’s Office. Photo: Alba FUSHE

The authorities began manipulating the process by issuing government decisions and absurd laws 400,000 citizens are excluded from voting in the referendum. In the Municipality of Vora, 2,000 voters are left off the voter lists. The local authorities’ right to draw up the lists is taken away and this unlawful right is given to certain working groups ON PAGE 2

The PD Presidium makes public the scandal involving the Ministry of Local Government According to the information and checks carried out by the PD electoral headquarters set up for the November 22 referendum, the PD Presidium finds that: • In the voter lists being drawn up, the Basic Constitutional Provisions and the Electoral Law have been openly violated, leaving a large number of voters off the lists, varying by area from 10–20%. This violation of the right to vote has been carried out under pressure from prefects, through numerous letters without the seal of the Minister of Local Government, who instructs that only citizens present in their places of residence at the time of registration be entered on the voter lists. • The exclusion of a considerable number of voters from the right to vote is the latest evidence of the exclusionary platform pursued by the government in the constitutional process and of its efforts to manipulate the result of the November 22 referendum. The Democratic Party demands that: • Local officials rigorously respect the Electoral Law when drawing up voter lists, and do not deprive of this constitutional right any citizen aged 18 or over who has permanent or temporary residence in the territory of the commune or municipality, regardless of whether they are present at the time of verification. • They refuse to implement any written or verbal order from central or local government officials that conflicts with the laws, and ignore pressure from prefects or local-government secretaries seeking to carry out unlawful acts.

Today, 53 days since the murder of the December Leader “Every day that passes since the murder of Azem Hajdari, the symbol of democracy and pluralism, proves the involvement of Fatos Nano’s government and his successor in the crime that shook the entire Albanian world. The government is post-communist and connected to the criminal circles that took the life of the December Leader; they have shown the Albanian people that they have been and remain on the side of the killers, who have names and identities but are not touched by those in power. Democrats and all Albanians who loved and honoured Azem Hajdari cannot in any way tolerate this fact. The government must either capture the criminals and bring them to justice, or publicly declare that it itself carried out the murder of Azem Hajdari.”

ODIHR uninformed about the constitutional process and changes to the referendum law The head of the Observer Mission, Kare Vollan, assured that his mission would observe without interfering in parties’ decisions, and did not hesitate to commend the opposition’s decision to participate in the voting commissions ON PAGE 3

Residents and wildlife of Ballsh are seriously at risk ON PAGE 5

Interview with Mr Rustem Gjata, former President of the Constitutional Court of Albania ON PAGE 7

Zela: The Chairman is with his family “Nano is in Paris to fulfil his duties as head of the family,” said Zela, the Secretary for Relations... ON PAGE 3

The Presidium of the PDSH invites all chairs of PD branches, chairs of communes, district councils and municipalities to attend a meeting with local officials in Tirana on Friday, 06.11.1998, at 11:00.