FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The results from several branches of the Democratic Party have been released for the vote where the only candidate for party leader is Sali Berisha, while the figures are highlighting low participation and votes against even in a process without real competition.
In branch 8 of the Democratic Party in Tirana, out of 1,741 members with the right to vote, only 665 Democrats participated, or about 38% of the total membership.
In Vlora, where the DP has around 1,600 members, around 700 votes were cast, which translates into a turnout of around 44%.
In Kolonjë, 217 voters participated, with 213 voting in favor of Berisha and 4 abstaining.
In Korça, the result yielded 392 votes in favor of Berisha, 7 abstentions and 18 invalid votes, bringing the total number of voters to 417.
In Gramsh, 268 Democrats voted, of which 215 were in favor of Berisha, 22 against and 3 abstained, while the rest of the votes were invalid.
Meanwhile, in Maliq, a total of 735 votes were counted, of which 731 were in favor and 4 against Sali Berisha.
In Lushnje, 550 members voted in favor of Berisha's candidacy, while 26 votes were against. There were also 10 abstentions and 6 invalid ballots.
Pas të ashtuquajturin referendum për konfirmimin e Sali Berishës në krye të Partisë Demokratike, në rrjet kanë shpërthyer memet që e krahasojnë atë me Enver Hoxhën dhe Joseph Stalin.
Mungesa e garës reale dhe rezultati i parashikuar paraprakisht prodhuan reagime ironike, ku përdorues të shumtë publikuan meme dhe montazhe që e krahasojnë Berishën me figura autoritare.
Në fotot e shpërndara online, referendumi i PD-së paraqitet si një proces formal, pa alternativë dhe pa konkurrencë politike, ndërsa krahasimet lidhen drejtpërdrejt me modelin e votimeve në regjimet komuniste.
Procesi i sotëm vulosi edhe një herë krizën e brendshme të Partisë Demokratike, ku prej vitesh çdo strukturë, forum apo proces zgjedhor kontrollohet nga një qendër e vetme vendimmarrjeje.
Në vend të një gare politike për drejtimin e opozitës, PD prodhoi një votim simbolik për të legjitimuar status quo-në.
PO ashtu në disa prej fletëve që po qarkullojnë në rrjet shkruhet “turp”.Ndërsa në një tjetër lexohet “merre partinë me vete në varr”.
Një tjetër votues ka shkruar “Gentjan Progni”, ndërsa dikush tjetër ka hedhur emrin “Ervin Salianji” në vend të votës për Berishën.
Në një tjetër fletë votimi është shkruar fraza fyese “Te q**sha mut noken”, çka tregon nivelin e irritimit dhe përçarjes që ekziston brenda vetë bazës së PD-së.
Fotot janë shpërndarë me shpejtësi në Facebook, Instagram dhe TikTok.
Reagimi i rrjetit tregoi se një pjesë e opinionit publik e lexoi këtë proces më shumë si ritual politik sesa si zgjedhje reale.
The results of the vote for the reconfirmation of Sali Berisha in several branches of the Democratic Party have been released, while the process is being accompanied by low turnout and votes against, even though the democratic leader is running unopposed.
In the Municipality of Selenica, out of 270 members on the reformed lists of the Democratic Party, 157 Democrats participated in the vote. Of these, 147 voted in favor of Sali Berisha, while 10 votes were against.
The lowest turnout was recorded in Postec, where out of 66 active voters in the branch, only 15 people showed up. Sali Berisha received 13 votes in favor, while 1 abstention and 1 invalid vote were recorded.
Meanwhile, in Këlcyrë, out of 232 voters in total, 205 voted for Berisha, 16 against, while 10 abstentions and 1 invalid vote were also registered.
In Përmet, turnout was also below expectations. Out of 400 registered voters, only 228 members participated in the referendum. Of these, 217 voted in favor, 9 against, and 2 abstained.
The voting process in the Democratic Party, where Sali Berisha is running alone for party leadership, has been accompanied throughout the day by accusations of a lack of real competition, low turnout, and claims of farce from critical voices within the Democrats.
The first results from the vote for the leader of the Democratic Party have begun to be published, where the only candidate is Sali Berisha, while the process in some voting centers has been postponed until 7:00 PM.
In the PD branch in Saranda, the referendum for Berisha closed with 181 votes in favor out of a total of 229 voters. According to the data, 40 Democrats voted against, 3 abstained and 5 votes were declared invalid.
Meanwhile, in Gjirokastra, 270 members voted in favor of Berisha, while 11 voted against. There were also 5 abstentions and 5 invalid votes.
Out of 400 DP voters in Përmet, only 228 of them participated in the referendum. 217 of them voted in favor, 9 against and 2 abstained.
The voting process has been accompanied throughout the day by debates and accusations from critical voices within the Democratic Party, who have called the vote a "farce" due to the lack of real competition, as Sali Berisha is running unopposed for the party leadership.
In some DP branches, committees decided to postpone voting hours until 7:00 p.m., with the argument of giving members the opportunity to participate in the process. However, critics have seen this as an attempt to increase participation in a process that they say has been accompanied by low interest from the democratic base.
Former Democratic MP Ervin Salianji has published figures that, according to him, show the "total abandonment" of the voting process for the leader of the Democratic Party, where the only candidate is Sali Berisha.
In a strong reaction, Salianji called the process a "farce for the usurpation of the DP", while claiming that the real participation in the main branches of the party has been very low compared to the figures declared by the blue headquarters.
According to him, by the end of voting at 6:00 PM, only 3,885 voters had participated in the district center branches.
Salianji accused the DP leaders of manipulating the process and ridiculed the decision to postpone the voting schedule.
"Total abandonment of the farce of usurping the DP. The Democrats despised and humiliated this provocation for a possible election. The theater of postponing the schedule was excessive. Millions of Albanians vote and the schedule is not postponed, while they postpone it for the large branches that according to the usurper have 20 thousand voters, but in the meantime not even 4 thousand have voted in total," he declared.
The referendum for the reconfirmation of Sali Berisha will be postponed until 19:00 in some branches of the Democratic Party. The branches that will have a postponement are some in Tirana as well as in other regions, specifically in Vlora and Fier due to the high number of members.
"As a result of several requests that have come to KOKOE from several large branches, such as branch 2 that votes here at the headquarters, KOKOE has decided that for these large branches, which have a flow of voting and expect the flow to continue even after 18:00, the process will remain open until 19:00 for these large branches, in order to give all Democrats the opportunity to vote and express their consent for the process of reconfirming the party chairman. It is a process that is nearing completion in several small branches, which have exhausted the process due to their duration", said Ivi Kaso.
According to reports, in Vlora, out of 1,600 members with voting rights, over 630 people have voted so far. In Selenica, the process continues without interruption. In Fier, voting participation is 31%.
The announcement comes a few minutes before voting closes.
As Sali Berisha runs alone for the Democratic Party leadership, the blue party has admitted for the first time that the party has shrunk to just 50,000 members, down from 100,000 a decade ago. On the day of the uncontested vote, the process is being accompanied by accusations of “farce,” lack of real competition and doubts about turnout, while critics within the DP accuse Berisha of artificially reducing membership numbers to hide desertions and falling support for the party.
As Sali Berisha runs alone for the leadership of the Democratic Party, the blue party has admitted for the first time that the party's membership has been halved. But alongside the drastic decline of the Democrats, strong questions have also been raised about the real turnout in the elections.
This Saturday's Democratic Party elections are taking place without a contest and amid accusations of farce, while the process has highlighted the Democrats' deepest crisis in more than a decade.
For the first time, the Democratic Party itself officially admitted that it has around 50,000 members, a figure that shows the dramatic shrinkage of the party that once numbered over 100,000 Democrats.
In 2013, after Berisha left power, in the Basha-Olldashi race, the DP had around 100,000 members. The same figure was maintained in 2017, when Lulzim Basha faced Eduard Selami.
The decline began after electoral losses and internal divisions. In 2021, after the defeat to Edi Rama, the DP dropped to 75 thousand members.
But the “Re-establishment,” which Berisha presented as the return of the Democrats to the party after being declared “non grata,” seems to have had the opposite effect. In the last five years alone, the DP has lost or left about 25,000 more members, while historical figures and well-known supporters have distanced themselves from the party.
Even today's process is accompanied by strong doubts about real participation. In 2022, when Berisha ran against Ibsen Elezit, Rithemelimi never published the total number of members, while declaring that around 46 thousand Democrats had voted and Berisha had received over 43 thousand votes.
This time, with Berisha as the sole candidate, the blue headquarters published the figure of 50,000 members for the first time, but critics within the DP claim that this is a way to artificially reduce the base and hide the decline in participation.
According to the Democratic Party's Election Commission, 28,379 members had voted in 77 party branches by 3 p.m. However, critical voices within the Democrats claim that the figures do not match the reality on the ground and have warned of the publication of video footage from polling stations.
In a process where Sali Berisha is competing unopposed, the DP elections are being accompanied not only by a lack of competition, but also by the shadow of doubts over participation and the deep crisis that has engulfed the largest opposition party in the country.
Former Democratic MP Ervin Salianji has harshly attacked the process for electing the leader of the Democratic Party, calling it a "farce" and a process without democratic standards.
Invited to Euronews, Salianji stated that voting with a single candidate cannot be considered a referendum or a real competition, while also casting doubt on the turnout figures reported by the Democratic Party.
" There is no referendum here because the referendum is not recognized by the statute. Parties operate on the basis of the law and the statute. For there to be a referendum, there must be conditions, participation, representatives who keep the votes, a membership list. They have issued a list with 51 thousand members, when the DP had 120 thousand. With one stroke of the pen, they have removed more than half of the members ," said Salianji.
He claimed that the actual turnout in the elections was much lower than what is officially reported by the blue headquarters.
" As of 1:00 p.m., only 1,898 members have voted in all of Albania. This data does not match what the media and Mrs. Vokshi are stating. They could even say 111 million, who is controlling this? Tomorrow I will publish clear videos from the voting centers where everything is visible, how many are entering and leaving ," he declared.
Salianji said that the Democrats are rejecting the process and compared the climate in the DP to the communist period.
" There is an abandonment of this process. Those who have gone en masse have put my name on the ballot. Others say that we have fought for 50 years not to be in communism and now we are going back. This is a reaction from all of Albania ," said the former democratic MP.
In the end, Salianji also issued a direct challenge to Sali Berisha, stating that the DP leader avoided the race out of fear of losing.
" This farce showed Sali Berisha's fear of facing the competition. If I were in the competition with Sali Berisha, I would defeat him overwhelmingly. Democrats are tired of losing, cheating and avoiding responsibility ," he said.
One of the most well-known and most ardent democrats in support of Sali Berisha, Ilir Vrenozi, has refused to participate in the elections for the leader of the Democratic Party, harshly attacking the process with a video published on social networks.
Unlike other times, Vrenozi did not show up to vote, while in his reaction he stated that he cannot vote in a process where there is only one candidate on the ballot.
The Korçë democrat describes the lack of competition as a practice that reminds him of communism and says he feels "offended" by such a process.
" Don't ask Vrenozi to vote on a list that is only one name. Please, you offend me, brother! By God, you offend me! I love the doctor, I've been following him for 35 years, but out of respect for the blood of my grandfather and my mother's people who died in prison, I don't want to bring back communism. I feel like I'm guilty of going there ," Vrenozi says.
In the video published on social media, he emphasizes that he considers the vote sacred and refuses to "waste" it in a process without alternative.
" When I voted for Luli, there was a competition, there were four or five candidates. Now who should I vote for? Sali or Berisha? I love my vote very much, brother. I don't waste my vote. I agree that the doctor should continue, but when you say 'there is no other', then you are not a party. Why is there no other after 36 years? Let the honorary president stay and let the others circulate ," he declares.
Vrenoz's stance has caused reactions online, as he is known as one of Sali Berisha's most loyal and active supporters over the years.
The elections for the leader of the Democratic Party, where Sali Berisha is the only candidate, have been accompanied by strong criticism and harsh reactions from the Democrats themselves, who have described the process as a "farce", "voting by order" and "total lack of competition".
As the voting process for the leadership of the Democratic Party is underway today, some DP supporters have openly come out against the way the elections were organized, comparing the situation to the communist period.
A democrat from Fier, irritated because only Sali Berisha's name was on the ballot, made a strong comparison with the Enver Hoxha regime.
" During Enver's time, voting was done by order for one. The dictatorship system has returned even today in the DP ," he said.
There was also strong criticism from other Democrats, who called the process an "electoral farce" without real competition.
" This is not a voting process, this is an electoral farce that Mr. Berisha is organizing, like in the time of communism, with a single candidate. I am sure that the Democrats will boycott this process. I voted against Berisha ," declared another DP supporter.
There were also reactions in Debar, where the democrat Lufti Loka refused to participate in the vote, saying that the process does not respect the party's statute and has no legitimacy.
" The DP is not an agricultural cooperative. I call on everyone not to join this vote, which is fake. The referendum is held by the president, not the party leader. For me, there is no choice ," he said.
Meanwhile, critical voices within the party claim that the lack of alternative candidates is turning the process into a formality for the confirmation of Sali Berisha as head of the Democratic Party.
Sali Vucici do ia hedhe fajin Eduardos qe i beri dhjerokratet te marrin rruget e kurbetit qe te shkaterrohet PD. Mbajeni mend po nuk tha keshtu.