— “Irregularities” intended to exclude Socialist voters from voting — In its principled struggle to seize power at any cost, the opposition is using every maneuver and means, from deceptive propaganda and forged leaflets slandering the SP to psychological terror. As if these were not enough, in electoral districts and polling stations the “last weapon” is also being deployed: a maneuver to exclude as many members or supporters of the Socialist Party as possible from voting on 22 March. Information arriving from the electoral districts speaks of deliberate “irregularities” in the preparation of the lists and registration of voters, on the basis of which the vote will take place. The manipulations range from leaving voters unregistered to other distortions and inaccuracies in voters’ names, to whom the “law” will be applied tomorrow to prevent them from voting. In neighborhood 26, for example, Mariana has been changed to Arian, and Rozeta Kozçelli. Although the women concerned have been raising the issue for days, even with the neighborhood chairman, they have received the answer, “It’s nothing.” Or there are residents who have been away for months and yet appear on the voting lists. In neighborhood 38, in the apartment building where lecturers from the Agricultural University live, some of them have been left off the lists or, until yesterday, did not know where they would vote. Similarly, in a block near the “Peza” hotel, around 20 voters had not been registered. Inaccuracies in lists and distortions of first and last names were found in block 3 of neighborhood 49, in neighborhood 57, etc. And worst of all, the lists at the polling station behind the National Museum were removed vandalically. None of this is due to forgetfulness or coincidence. It is no coincidence that in almost every case this has happened to the names of voters thought likely to vote for the Socialist Party. Can one speak of free democratic elections in the face of such malicious maneuvers? Where do those acting this way get the right to play with people’s feelings and will? Are these not signs that the “democrats” may use other antidemocratic machinations as well, solely to get votes? Gentlemen, let people enjoy the “na” of democracy, the free expression of their own will! THE OBSERVER

Albanian women should vote for the Socialist Party on 22 March. Let us recall for a moment the army of teachers, among whose ranks there are many women. Today, in these difficult times, with a lack of work in many sectors, with a lack of ... each day instill in their children a sense of national pride, humanism, and respect for the best traditions, passed on through the words of their finest sons: “You, Albania, are my honor, you are my Albanian name,” “Homeland is the land where my head has fallen,” “Religion belongs ... She is fully interested, more than anyone else, in the country’s progress, in true democracy in the family and society, in social peace, and in the prompt resolution of as many social problems as possible that concern the country country and ...

YOU, MR. BERISHA, ARE THE DECEIVER — Reprint — Verbally. At the rallies held in recent days and at your latest press conference, you declared that the Socialist Party is deceiving the farmers by telling them that the Democratic Party will return their land to the former owners or compensate them. Whom is the poor farmer to believe? In writing. The DP’s electoral program states in black and white: “The democratic state will guarantee by law to former landowners, regardless of where they live today, compensation in value, in a form that is possible, for the land property they owned before the 1946 agrarian reform.” Meanwhile, the newspaper “RD,” dated 22 February 1992, says: “We recognize as a legitimate right the possible return, or compensation at the level provided for by law, of property to former owners who were unjustly dispossessed by the communist regime.” Conclusion. Mr. Berisha, there are no illiterate people left in Albania. Everyone has ears and can hear, just as they have eyes to read. So, who is the deceiver? THE OBSERVER

The Socialist Party’s vote in parliament gave the fundamental law on rural reform the character of the majority’s interests. By granting ownership to the farmer who inherited little or no land, this law raised the 1946 agrarian reform to a new pedestal, as one of Albania’s greatest democratic achievements. The Democratic Party was forced to retreat from the trenches of the old boundaries, from its desire to sell to foreigners, and from the buying and selling of land. It failed to legalize compensation for former large landowners, which would have given them the power of money—the precursor to political power. A vote for the old boundaries would have meant extreme polarization, even the destructive explosion of the village. The Democratic Party was forced to abandon total privatization of land: farms, forests, waters, and pastures that remained state property. The free-market economy included in the opposition’s program is like frost for trees that blossom early. Picture the farmer, naked and exhausted, facing economic competition—

The Socialist Party includes in its program the cancellation of all outstanding debts owed by the former agricultural cooperatives. The countryside needs strong support as it enters the market economy in a wretched condition. A new system of development, the privatization of land, and the dissolution of the cooperatives necessarily require material and financial resources. On the other hand, the SP bases this program on the fact that outstanding debts have also been covered for state enterprises in the cities. Therefore, establishing equality between countryside and city under the conditions of a market economy necessarily requires the cancellation of debts for the former agricultural cooperatives as well. The Socialist Party’s program also provides that the assets of the former cooperatives (cows, small livestock, barns, bakeries, warehouses, and other facilities) be given to the farmers free of charge. It will fight to ensure that they do not pay a single lek for anything they have rightfully received, including livestock, building materials, and so on. This does not mean confusing that policy with correcting the injustices committed during the distribution of the former assets, when some received more, some less, and some nothing. According to our program, those who received more than their due will pay for the surplus, and this will be given to farming families who received nothing or less than their share of the former cooperative assets. Equal ownership under the law is the guarantee for rural reform and, at the same time, the opposition’s first great defeat. As for the “proposal” it put forward, it is convinced that it cannot be easily ... They cannot ... because the countryside itself stands in their defense, along with the representative of its broadest social groups’ interests, the Socialist Party. Equal ownership under the law is, among other things, an economic pillar on which national reconciliation will rest.

On March 22, Albanian women must vote for the Socialist Party. Let us remember a lack of work in many sectors and a lack of vehicles for transport, they rush to get to school, to be with the children and young people who are waiting for them. Why, one may ask, do they do this? Professional conscience, someone might say. I would answer: It is something more. The generations in their hands are the future of the country. Can a mother leave her baby unfed? Can a mother leave a baby who is trying to walk without making sure that it can walk on its own? Thus, in teachers, in mothers, the responsibility for the nation’s future is safeguarded. Though uneducated for centuries, Albanian mothers have known how, along with their milk, to give their children what they consider most precious: the feeling of love for the homeland. It was precisely this merit of mothers that enabled our nation to survive throughout our centuries-old history, despite all its twists and turns. They knew how to instill in their children’s blood a sense of national pride, humanism, and the preservation of the finest customs, passed down through the words of their best sons: “Albania, you give me honor, you give me the name Albanian”; “Homeland is the land where my head has fallen”; “The Albanian’s faith is Albanianism,” and so on. Today, women regulate family life. They are concerned with the well-being of every family member, especially their children, in terms of health, proper upbringing, education, employment, and so on. With the nobility that characterizes them, despite their heavy workload, they find time to devote themselves to their children and family members; they know how to give them help, affection, and joy, and yet still find a way to work toward their own advancement. Women today make up half the population and are a major social force. As society’s demands grow, they feel an even stronger imperative to play the role that belongs to them. They are fully invested, more than anyone else, in the country’s progress, in genuine in the swift resolution of as many social problems as possible—problems that concern the country, especially its underprivileged social groups and townspeople. In particular, they care about national reconciliation. A mother is the first to want there to be no killings, discord, or destruction, but only love among people and a desire for work and progress. A mother wants and asks, as the national anthem says, to see her sons “United around the flag, with one desire and one purpose.” These are the reasons why women today, as a socially conscious force, find in the Socialist Party’s electoral program the lofty aspirations they desire. These are the reasons why Albanian women must vote for the Socialist Party.

I did not want to offer greetings, because greetings among this lot—after all the greetings from all the parties—would turn into a political pasture where all the parties send their calves, their future members of parliament, to graze; it would become a propaganda fortress unsuited to an electorate, and even more so to a creative intellectual. But just then, a fairy tale came to mind. It goes like this: Once, rain fell. It made people go mad. And as soon as it fell, people went mad. Only one [unclear in source] hid beneath a shelter and did not go mad, because he was not drenched by the rain that drove people mad. But when he joined the crowd of mad people, they said to him: “Look, a madman.” The [unclear in source] found himself alone again; only he was afraid, while the mad people called him mad! Then he begged God to send another rain of madness upon the earth, so that he too would go mad and join the mad people. Even today Albania fears a great madness, in which the opposition too would be swept up to the same extent, along with the great upheaval... [partly illegible] ... ...because I want to measure and continually increase my strength. Without opposition there is no progress, but the opposition must also accept me. We are for a fruitful rain, for the rain that comes after a storm of smoke and dust, for the rain that calms people rather than making them mad, with microphones in their mouths and loudspeakers that eat them up like onions, while they rant like madmen: “We will kill this one and roast that one,” “We will uproot this one and bury that one.” If you use the words “uprooting” and “burying,” you are never a democrat. Speaking this way, these oppositionists take on the appearance of Ismail Qemali, just as the Lilliputians looked before Gulliver. And here the honorable opposition is seriously mistaken, because, contrary to democracy, these people become antidemocratic; moreover, a democrat does not uproot, but hoes. Uprooting belongs to dictatorship, not democracy. Indeed, civilized democracy has removed the words “uprooting,” “hanging,” and “executions” from its vocabulary. These words belong to revolution and counterrevolution, but not to democracy. The words “Ramiz, you dog, we’ll hang you from the gallows...” are antidemocratic; they are pure fascist or neo-Bolshevik calls. After liberation from the fascist and Nazi occupation, we shouted: “Punish them by hanging.” And we established a dictatorship. How do these two slogans, uttered in the years immediately after liberation, differ from those of 1991–92? Even the rhyme of the lines is no different. So why do these parties consider themselves new, when Zogists and fascists, with beys and merchants, all as one black tangle, nearly bursting, are taking the name and title of opposition? This black tangle, with its howls from enraged people, is surging through smoke, fires, destruction, looting, and robbery, to turn our Albania into dust, to drag it into the clutches ... zero. This tangle is being reinforced with mercenaries brought from A... [text continues in the next column]

— Greetings by the writer Dritëro Agolli, delivered at the meeting of the Socialist Party’s parliamentary candidates for the city and district of Tirana with the electorate, at the Palace of Congresses — ...to have brought us greater prosperity and wealth, but instead we are witnessing disorder. We Socialists are trying, with all the strength the regressive forces leave us, to hoe away the debris and clean up the rubbish, to turn our Albania into dust, to bring it to the brink, so as not to let the poor become even poorer and not to let the rich trample the poor underfoot! Against us, as though we were not Albanians, as though we had no elders and no nation, they are insulting us ... [partly illegible] ... America and Europe are also putting them on platforms to help the tangle get jumbled up as quickly as possible and make its way into the ballot boxes. The Albanian tangle, unable to manage on its own, is seeking help from other tangles around the world, making promises before the elections. It tells the peasants: We will give you tractors with nickel roofs; we will install a telephone in every home so you can be directly connected even with America; we will put bathtubs in your homes. It tells the peasants: [illegible] ... ...we must recover from the blows of the sticks and the bruises on our hands and feet, and get to work to bring prosperity, calm, and peace. We must not lose our heads either over victory or defeat! truth. The truth will prevail, even if it is delayed. Those who today stamp their feet at us, who shower us with dust and smoke while howling, will change tomorrow if they are brought together with the truth, if we can [unclear] the perspective, if we know how to strengthen ... [illegible] And we will continue to strive in a democratic manner, calmly and cool-headedly, because the party hat we wear on our heads does not matter; because we cannot leave behind the filth and ... [illegible] ... for the future of the country, even if we are exhausted and worn out by sacrifice. I wish you all the best. May things go well for us!

Poverty has worn you down, but you are alert. The land you received under the law is protected by your vote. Vote for the SOCIALIST PARTY, because you are voting for the prosperity of the village.