FLASH
Shkruar nga Ben Andoni
The bad luck was that the DP did not understand the voice of the public, when it was promised in 2023 that victory over Veliaj was one of the easiest, as Këlliçi confidently repeated. Alimehmet's candidacy, with his clean stature and citizenship, could not take place in the always problematic primaries of the DP, even though time was showing that he would receive many votes from the left as well.
If the DP wanted to return to power, the first challenge after the disaster of the 2025 general elections would be to run for Tirana. And, there would be no greater opportunity than this for the first victory after years of defeat. A very powerful mayor like Erion Veliaj, already in prison, and where a big hand in his imprisonment was given by the democratic militants who protested in the middle of the heat of the season (more and more voices see cooperation between the DP+PS?!); the thirst of the Tyrants to return with a genuine candidate for the capital; the numerous infrastructural problems in Tirana among others, all together now make this fact possible. But in the DP not only do they not have the courage to whisper a candidacy for the largest municipality in the country, but they have started playing games about whose candidacy will be blocked in front of Manastirliu, presented by Prime Minister Rama at the Socialist Assembly!
The loss of Belind Këlliç in 2023, who was totally invested and had great confidence, has shown that this is a heavy undertaking for the already bowed shoulders of the DP. It is a little worse when you think because even with the 'strength' of Ilir Meta, the opposition coalition was not able to succeed in the territory of the Municipality of Tirana. The 59 thousand votes less than Erjon Veliaj of the SP that Këlliç received cost him a lot. From this sacrifice, the former democratic candidate also lost his mandate as an MP, a fact that would make many colleagues rub their hands in the ranks of his party because they had gotten rid of one of the most dedicated people and with the greatest career opportunities. Time would tell if the trend of defeat would continue. In the same territory that coincides with the area of the Municipality of Tirana, the loss of the opposition allies would be repeated in the general elections with 57 thousand votes less than the PS! The fact would confirm that the Socialists seem to have created more ground in Tirana, when the opposition is allowing and giving space. Even worse, the DP structures cannot hold such a weight to restore the balance of victory. Adding to this the weight of the patronage, the loss was almost foreseen from the beginning.
Simple logic does not make Belind Këlliçi take on this challenge again in a party where he is vegetating and where the opposition has done well for its interests. According to what is referred to in the media, a part of the DP people is not that they have become poorer in the opposition. While those who are in the idealist part have long since left. If we were to refer to the memories of history, they do not go with this force, where the idealists have long been away and are now the subject of history.
“There comes a time when one must take a stand that is neither safe, nor political, nor popular, but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right,” wrote the human rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. in his time, in “A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches.” But who can possibly take on this mission in the Democratic Party? Those in parliament cannot; others outside it must sniff out Berisha’s predisposition in the air.
The bad luck was that the DP did not understand the voice of the public, when it was promised in 2023 that the victory over Veliaj was one of the easiest, as Këlliçi repeated with conviction. Alimehmet's candidacy with his pure stature, with his citizenship, could not take a place in the always problematic primaries of the DP, even though time was showing that he would receive many votes from the left as well. Today, when Alimehmet is reminded of it, he avoids it with the care of an intellectual, but clearly unhappy to receive a half-term until the 2027 elections. However, even a half-term is a challenge to reverse a trend and can lead to a reconceptualization of the opposition, a fact that apparently no one likes... with this comfortable status quo. The hierarchy of power in the DP there is clearly fixed. Berisha is the first, there are endless empty spots (it reminds you of the international rankings for the best guitar players in history: Jimmy Hendrix had no successors!) and then comes the one who pleases the sublime Leader at the right moment.
It is worrying that even Jorida Tabaku, again a Tirana girl, has little chance of being supported by militants if she decides to run for the DP, and on the other hand, to think that a young mother has to face a new, torturous challenge, even greater than those of the general elections, where the List was mostly composed of political vegetarians, her candidacy would probably become practically impossible by itself. To think that no one can surpass Berisha with power, as a mayor from Tirana can have.
In short, no one is taking over Tirana, because if they really had an opinion, then they would have the identity of the mayor ready, then the strategy and later the objectives of how they would support the candidate for mayor. The proposals of Mr. Shehaj and others have fallen on deaf ears in the deaf environment of the democrats, because the objective of these four years in the parliament has been fulfilled. Moreover, no one would want to leave Sali Berisha in power, because while Rama takes away the opportunity for a career, Berisha takes away the opportunity for politics. All the candidates put forward know this well, just like the inability to overcome the ordeal of Këlliç.
In fact, the DP has lost a greater sense of giving the public what it deserves most. This is not understood because some of them have the parliament ready, while the majority of true democrats and socialists survive in the conditions where they represent the inferiors. In the case of the DP, they do not do even the simplest thing that Aristophanes understood thousands of years ago: “To win the people, always cook them some salty food that they like”, the playwright said with that simplicity of his. But who has the time to deal with the people today in the DP and the SP!
Lini një Përgjigje