Yesterday morning, the Presidium of the People’s Assembly convened under the chairmanship of its Chairman, Comrade Ramiz Alia. At the meeting, the participants discussed the work carried out so far by the Central Election Commission and progress in the work of discussing the draft constitution. The Chairman of the Central Election Commission, Rexhep Mejdani, informed the Presidium of the People’s Assembly about the work carried out so far to publicize and implement the law on elections to the People’s Assembly. The Central Commission and the election commissions for electoral districts and polling stations, he said, are being supplemented with representatives of other parties, pursuant to Presidium of the People’s Assembly decrees No. 7456 and 7457, dated 17 January 1991, so that they may work and demand rigorous implementation of the requirements of the law by the state authorities and electoral subjects. The Central Commission held its first meeting with the participation also of Aleksandër Meksi, representing the Democratic Party; Hysen Çobani, representing the Republican Party; and Namik Hoti (Prizreni), representing the Ecological Party. The state bodies have prepared the documentation and issued the necessary instructions for the elections, in accordance with the requirements of the law. To ensure full regularity [?] and correctness in the implementation of the law, the Central Election Commission of the People’s Assembly has also issued the necessary methodological instructions on how to fill in the ballot papers, the order in which candidates are to be listed on them, how to tally the results, and how to assess the ballot papers at each polling station. It has instructed local authorities that, for military units with small personnel numbers located near residential areas, separate polling stations should not be set up, but that voting should take place at ordinary polling stations. In this way, they vote together with others, as voters do throughout the country, so that the number of votes at the polling stations is accurate. The information available to the Central Election Commission shows that the state has provided all electoral subjects with all the necessary material and financial conditions. In accordance with legal requirements, they are working to put forward candidates; some of the subjects are completing this task, while the others have every opportunity to do so within the legal deadlines. The Central Election Commission suggested that the Presidium of the People’s Assembly assist by issuing appropriate instructions to the relevant state authorities, so that they take measures in good time and create all the necessary conditions and practical opportunities for foreign election observers and representatives of international organizations to follow the elections in our country at close quarters. Furthermore, in order to create the most favorable political and economic climate for holding free and democratic elections, the Commission calls on all electoral subjects to contribute to conducting an electoral campaign that is as constructive and democratic as possible, free from social and political tensions. The Presidium praised the work of the Central Election Commission and approved its proposals concerning the participation of foreign election observers, international organizations, and the press. The Presidium of the People’s Assembly was also informed by Kleanthi Koçi, secretary of the Special Commission for drafting amendments and additions to the Constitution, about progress in the public discussion of the draft constitution. Among other things, he said that the commission and the staff of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly had received letters from various individuals and collectives, who, with a sense of responsibility, had offered views and made proposals for improving the draft submitted. The Commission, through special working groups, is studying these proposals, as well as articles published in the daily press. Since the date of the elections to the People’s Assembly was postponed to 31 March 1991, the Commission will receive comments and proposals until 28 February 1991. The final revised draft will be submitted to the Presidium of the People’s Assembly at the end of March 1991, so that it can be distributed in good time to the deputies elected on 31 March 1991. The Presidium discussed the draft decision on measures to be taken regarding the determination of the place and role of the army, the internal affairs bodies, and the judiciary under conditions of political pluralism. After discussing this draft decision, the members of the Presidium approved it. The above decision is published in today’s press.

TELEGRAM TO COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA, FIRST SECRETARY OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE PARTY OF LABOUR OF ALBANIA Dear Comrade Ramiz! The people of the Baldushk area, gathered on 6 February 1991, having followed attentively and with active participation the very important developments that lay the foundations for the democratization of life in every sphere of our country, express their particular solidarity with the cooperative farmers of Kuç in the district of Skrapar. The high-type agricultural cooperative “Drita e Partisë” in Baldushk was established in 1988. It began with material assets amounting to 04 lek per workday, with 600 workers, without material or technical equipment, relying solely on the workers’ labor. In the 1970s, our cooperative, thanks to investment and assistance from the state, underwent a fundamental change in its socioeconomic indicators and in practice reached 14 lek per workday, doubling yields in all agricultural and livestock sectors. These achievements have been sustained and further consolidated over the past 20 years, increasing income per worker and per capita, as reflected in 16 lek per standard workday. The economic achievements of 1990 are particularly convincing; despite difficult climatic conditions, the targets were successfully met. All these achievements have made it possible to change the material, social, and cultural position of our cooperative farmers. The workforce grew to 1,700, production relations in all fields were further consolidated, and more than 90 percent live in new, furnished homes, enjoying on a daily basis suitable living conditions that are increasingly comfortable and incomparable with the past. The Baldushk area, once a neglected place of mud, darkness, drought, and ignorance, was transformed into an area with roads and transport, electric light, drinking water, education, schools and hospitals, nurseries and kindergartens, where young and old alike enjoy these benefits achieved through the sweat of their own people, under the leadership of the Party of Labour of Albania and the People’s Power. The advantages demonstrated by our cooperative system are undeniable. Therefore, we want to preserve and further strengthen it, not destroy what we have built with so much effort and sweat, as some scribblers in offices advise us to do. The people of Baldushk fully support the reforms adopted in connection with the comprehensive democratization of life in the country, convinced that they are being carried out in the interests of our people. We assure you, dear Comrade Ramiz, that in 1991 too we will work with revolutionary ambition to carry out our tasks on all fronts and to go into the elections of 31 March with the best possible results. Show yourself as high as the mountains for the good of the people and the Homeland. FROM THE MEETING OF THE COOPERATIVE FARMERS OF BALDUSHK TIRANA, 6. 2. 1991

The Prime Minister meets students from the ILB The Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Comrade Adil Çarçani, received a group of representatives of students from the Higher Agricultural Institute of Kamza at the Prime Minister’s Office the evening before last. The Minister of Education, Skënder Gjinushi, and the rector of the Higher Agricultural Institute, Hashik Aliko, were also present at the meeting. During the discussion with the representatives of the ILB students, a dialogue was held about the economic demands that the students of this institute had submitted to the Prime Minister. An understanding was reached at the meeting on the vast majority of these demands and on the deadlines for meeting them, such as improving food, heating, lighting, transport, accommodation, and students’ leisure-time arrangements, etc. To this end, following a constructive debate and on the instructions of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, a series of immediate and long-term measures were defined. Central ministries and institutions, working groups from the staff of the Council of Ministers, and the State Control Commission were assigned responsibility for implementing them. Regarding the students’ request that some members of the rectorate resign, the Prime Minister advised them to reconsider the matter and said that it was for the relevant committees to examine it. At the end of the meeting, the student representatives thanked Comrade Adil Çarçani for receiving them, for his readiness to address their demands, and for finding solutions. The timetable for meeting the demands was communicated to the students of the institute that afternoon. The ILB students did not attend classes yesterday either, awaiting notification that their demands had been met. (ATSH)

— Talks held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Yesterday, a delegation from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs arrived in our country, headed by Alesandro Grafini, special envoy of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, De Mikelis. Yesterday, a delegation from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs arrived in our country, headed by Alesandro Grafini, special envoy of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, De Mikelis. At Rinas Airport, the delegation was received by officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Yesterday, talks were also held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between the Albanian delegation, headed by Deputy Minister Sokrat Plaka, and the Italian delegation, headed by Alesandro Grafini. During the talks, which were held in a friendly and official working atmosphere, the parties discussed topics and issues concerning the overall relations between Albania and Italy. Fruitful and constructive discussions were held in all areas. (ATSH)

In the political beginnings of the present day, a new phenomenon can be observed: many are hastening to bring pluralism together with everything, to make it one with everything. The economy and political pluralism, and pluralism. Power and pluralism. Power and pluralism. Youth and pluralism. Art and pluralism. At last, then, a calm harbor has been found in which to anchor our ship, heavily laden with troubles. One might think that pluralism has become synonymous with acceleration. “In the beginning was the Word,” says the Bible. And for a very long time, people learned unanimously to believe in the power of the word, in the magic of the command, the tale, progress, universality, the prior [?]. The word changed from one era to another, from one century to another. It must be that ancient word which has now become the word “pluralism.” Certainly, pluralism is a beginning. A new history begins with institutions, with pluralism [?]. And it is not merely a word, but a worldview, a new start and a call to work for civilization. But will pluralism bring us everything simply by building pairs and equations with it, simply by talking about its historical importance? I fear that great euphoria may take the place of a complacency no less dangerous. Should we hope that pluralism will be a universal key for us? One of the aims of Joy alone [?], a theme with which we wholeheartedly joined Europe at this point; but with illusions and idealism we will not be able to go any further. We are at the goal of this goal, at the heights of Europe; we will not reach it unless Europe synchronizes its pace with ours [?]. How badly we judge ourselves when we proudly claim that we have only now matured enough for pluralism, while absolutely denying its existence in earlier times! Pluralism exists within every human being. The pluralism of human thought throughout history has never been prohibited, nor could it have been prohibited [?]. The human mind is full of whims; only conscience and awareness can meet, make things possible, and allow it to be freed or restrained [?]. What we are would have been shown a little by this, as the English writer and philosopher of our time, the founder of the literary movement of the stream of consciousness, Uilliam Xhojs, James Joyce, has shown: the qualities attributed to a person make that person conversational, flighty, pluralist, and rebellious [?]. Now people are saying that, in the absence of self-censorship, self-censorship hindered freedom of thought. That self-censorship may have held back a free outburst and may have silenced many people is understood. But for self-censorship to ethically justify silence and to declare it proudly a virtue, as quite a few intellectuals in the press are currently doing, is a counterfeit coin for the reader. Boasting that you wrote under conditions of self-censorship is like putting yourself in the position of Švejk when he says: “We were returning from a defeated battle, thoughtful, but proud, as befits victorious soldiers.” These are democratic times, and every judge has the right to say freely what they have to boast about, what pleases them, and what they proclaim as their preference. Let there be those who take pride and demand decorations because they once censored themselves. In the words of Rexhep Qosja, they will fully deserve dictatorship, as people of limited awareness. Could someone else really be to blame for that too? Perhaps we should recall for a moment the literal meaning of the word self-censorship. In Albanian, this would be expressed as “self-restriction.” Now that pluralism is an everyday reality, complaints have poured in about its absence in the past! “What wouldn’t we have done,” they say, “if we had had pluralism? Everything would have been gathered into our hands!” A truly unbearable alibi! How, then, have generations of human beings managed to create and formulate ideas, do science, invent laws and theories, and cultivate thought and human values since the most distant antiquity, since the Vedas and Sanskrit writings, since the pre-Homeric Greek epics, when pluralism did not exist even as an expression? To blame self-censorship for the absence of free thought is to accuse oneself. And one accuses oneself and stands trial with fairness through help, not by beating one’s chest, as some do. In the end, I say, they are to blame. Who knows whom this should serve as a lesson for?

On the measures to be taken regarding the determination of the place and role of the army, the internal affairs bodies, and the judiciary under conditions of political pluralism Pursuant to Article 78 of the Constitution, THE PRESIDIUM OF THE PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY OF THE PEOPLE’S SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA DECIDED: 1. The Council of Ministers is tasked, in order to meet the requirements of the rule of law, with organizing work to study and draft bills concerning the place and role of the army, the internal affairs bodies, and the judiciary under conditions of political pluralism. 2. In preparing the bills, it shall be borne in mind that the armed forces belong to and serve only the Homeland. They are guided by and implement the state’s policy in the field of the defense and security of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania. In the armed forces, military personnel are educated in the spirit of patriotism, determination to defend the freedom and independence of the Homeland, the protection of its borders, and the safeguarding of its interests and those of the people. 3. After the above bills have been discussed in the army, the internal affairs bodies, and the justice bodies, they shall be submitted for consideration and approval to the People’s Assembly that will emerge from the elections of 31 March 1991. During this period, military commands shall take measures to ensure that the discipline and combat readiness of the armed forces are not impaired. 4. This decision enters into force immediately. Tirana, 8. 2. 1991. Decision No. 350. FOR THE PRESIDIUM OF THE PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY OF THE PEOPLE’S SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA SECRETARY Sihat Tozaj CHAIRMAN Ramiz Alia

Pursuant to Decision No. 350 of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, dated 8.2.1991, the Ministers of People’s Defense and Internal Affairs issued the following order: “During the current campaign for elections to the People’s Assembly, in order to ensure that no particular electoral subject is given an advantage, party meetings and rallies in support of various candidates shall be prohibited within military premises. During the election campaign, military personnel shall attend meetings together with the people, outside military premises.” (ATSH)

The text on the facing page is partly visible and cut off; readable fragments: “Federation”, “Treaty…”, “war”. [?]