In his greeting addressed to the deputies elected by the stolen vote of May 26 President Sali Berisha’s repeated call for the Socialist opposition deputies to take their seats in Parliament comes as no surprise. He has made this appeal before, while greeting the deputies elected through the stolen votes of May 26, to such an extent that many have been left with the impression that the very ceremony was organized to woo the Socialists. But while the Socialists have no doubts whatsoever about the decision they made—a decision imposed on them by Berisha’s own regime through its violation of free elections and the brutality it demonstrated on May 26—we regret that the culmination of this entire electoral farce is still being expressed, as he pleads, “We feel their absence very much,” or tries to convince them that the number of votes does not matter when it comes to having a say in Parliament. No, Mr. President! The Socialists respect the will of the people, and for as long as you show not the slightest sign of remorse for what you have done, and continue to trumpet the false legitimacy of a Parliament that is in fact illegal, none of them will go against the will of the people expressed on May 26, which you are dishonestly and anti-democratically insulting. You should have felt the need for the Socialists when they sincerely urged you to break away from your role as a fanatical partisan and fulfil your constitutional function as the symbol of the unity of the Albanian people; when they called on you to act responsibly by accepting the sovereign’s verdict, not falsifying it. What you are saying today does not sound sincere, as though it were intended to establish cooperation and bring the people together. You speak of cooperating with a Parliament that came into being through a criminal path, of restoring an opportunity that you yourself put at risk from your position as President, and of making it legitimate through nothing more than advice. The Socialists respect the institutions of democracy, but they also respect the institution of the President—as long as it serves democracy and the interests of the homeland and the nation, and as long as it guarantees the protection of human rights and the opposition’s political freedoms, and remains a legitimate institution.

Crime and corruption in Parliament Anti-crime noise It is all very well to pass new laws, but why have the existing ones not been enforced?!... Page 3

“We feel their absence very much?...”

Post-festival

For more than three days, distorted news and even slander about developments within the PSSH have been appearing on Albanian teletext, purportedly taken from “Gazeta Shqiptare”. Naturally, the editors of ATSH’s teletext present the disinformation and slander from “Gazeta Shqiptare” in a “suitable” form, without taking the trouble to confirm their accuracy from other sources. The information published by “Gazeta Shqiptare” is inaccurate or distorted with clear subversive aims directed against the PSSH. Such actions do not make the entire staff of this newspaper responsible, but rather a particular journalist in the political section who, deliberately and repeatedly, not only distorts information but also fabricates news, even making slanderous claims for specific purposes, thereby undermining the independence of the newspaper itself. In Sunday’s news item broadcast on teletext on the basis of an article in “Gazeta Shqiptare”, the General Secretary of the PSSH is slandered: it is claimed that Prof.Dr.Rexhep Mejdani supposedly told Musa Ulqini “Yes” to a request for the resignation of the PSSH leadership during a confidential meeting. This slander is made with clear subversive aims, just days before the meeting of the PSSH’s KPD, and to create effects in favor of the proposal for the leadership’s resignation, in the hope that the PSSH will then be plunged into a chaotic state, after which another Laço-party is expected to emerge. The PSSH rejects such distortions and slander against its leaders with disgust and asks the staff of “Gazeta Shqiptare” not to allow such disinformation by particular individuals at the newspaper to happen again. The PSSH has confidence in the independence of this newspaper, which is already well known to Albanian public opinion. Also, since the PSSH is open to providing information to the Albanian Telegraphic Agency, which prepares the teletext for RTV, it asks the agency to verify news related to the PSSH in the future by comparing it with information from the latter’s direct sources. Press and Information Office of the PS

Post-festival Disinformation and slander in

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The members of the General Steering Committee of the Socialist Party of Albania are hereby informed that the GSC meeting will be held on Thursday, December 26, 1996, at 10:00 a.m. at the ASP headquarters. The Presidium of the ASP

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