FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
From time to time, characters who are pumped up by Berisha and Rama appear at the center of the campaign, but surprisingly none of them are part of the teams they represent.
With two weeks left until Albanians head to the polls to elect a new parliament, the campaign is being dominated by two veteran political leaders, Sali Berisha and Edi Rama. Although there is an effort by young politicians to break into the political scene, at least so far, the Rama-Berisha duo continues to hold the monopoly.
Berisha is sticking to his traditional model, with a program that he tries to articulate meeting after meeting, while Rama, through jokes and the 'European passport', is aiming for a 4th consecutive government mandate.
So what is happening with the May 11 campaign, who is dominating it and which issues are being articulated most strongly?
This campaign is following the pattern of the absence of a political debate between the parties. The only debate, if it can be called such, held so far, was a confrontation between the leaders of the parties competing for the first time in the parliamentary elections. Adriatik Lapaj and Endri Shabani, who are in a coalition 'Nisma Shqipëria Bëhet', Arlind Qori of Lëvizja Bashkë and Agron Shehaj of the 'Mundësia' party are almost in war positions among themselves, with public attacks or not, in an attempt to 'conquer' the political territory outside the fence of the SP and DP militants.
Lulzim Basha, with the 'EuroAtlantic' coalition, hopes to keep under control those who were part of the DP and did not join Sali Berisha when the latter took control of the seal, logo and symbols of the largest opposition party.
Berisha has extended several invitations to Rama for a debate, but is convinced that the Prime Minister will not take them into consideration, while the socialist leader has chosen to continue the jokes whenever he notices a decrease in the number of followers on social networks.
From time to time, characters promoted by Berisha and Rama appear at the center of the campaign, but surprisingly, none of them are part of the teams they represent.
Berisha keeps the command of the campaign on his side, even though he has appointed 12 district leaders and 5-6 others with broader responsibilities. The only one among them who has attracted attention is Flamur Noka, who seems to have been tasked with attacking Agron Shehaj, continuing an old clash between the two, which began a few months ago. The DP program could very well be explained by many names who are candidates in this party, the campaign of the “Great Albania Alliance” could very well be led by many candidates from open lists, who even in case of defeat, would be a good asset, perhaps why not see the future of this party.
Edi Rama is also following the same strategy. The latter does everything himself, and even associates everything only with his name. He has even created the idea that if he is no longer Prime Minister, everything will stop.
The leader of the Socialist Party (SP) started a campaign of jokes with Sali Berisha, who compared him to an owl and called the opposition led by him a swamp. And as if to put the two together, Rama wasted no time in using the phrase "the owl of the swamp".
Then he attached the epithet of swamp to every new party, continued with jokes about Lulzim Basha, who until the moment he went viral with the video 'O Rame ku i ke shoqët', was non-existent, and then continued with Korça's Ilir Vrenozi, a character known on social networks for his outbursts, or with Chris LaCivita, whom he baptized with the name 'Latifi'.
But Rama's jokes caught Berisha off guard, who delayed his response for several days, perhaps even being advised by the American campaign strategist, LaCivita, that the epithet 'owl', regardless of the meaning the Prime Minister used, was an assessment. And so Berisha began to explain that "the owl is the symbol of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and wit. The owl was considered such a symbol of her ability. Athena did not choose the eagle, she chose the owl."
But he quickly emerged from the debate at a distance with Rama, perhaps even advised not to fall for the 'bait' that the Prime Minister had thrown out in the campaign.
In parallel, Rama brought Lulzim Basha into the game, who seemed to find the moment to gain attention, while for several days in a row he returned to the prime minister with jokes such as "7*7= 313" or "Where are your friends?"
Then, with a well-defined script, Rama launched into another joke, this time calling those who would vote for the "swamp" "scumbags," while calling on women to convince their men to vote for the SP, or at worst, to put them to sleep on election day. Girls were called on to convince their boyfriends if they voted for the swamp, or at worst, not to follow them into the swamp.
Once again he attracted attention and ironically for days on end, perhaps even with the game played by Berisha, Ilir Vrenozi has become the central character of the campaign.
Berisha considers him a hero because he refused Rama's invitation for coffee, while the Prime Minister was quick to describe the social media personality as the true face of the swamp, given the somewhat unbridled language that Vrenozi uses in his videos.
And ironically, it seems that Iliri, the Korça native who gained fame from social networks, is more important in Berisha's eyes than Ivi Kaso or Edmond Spaho, who ran for him in Korça, or that he is more pleasant to Rama's mind than Niko Peleshi, who he entrusted with running the campaign. /Pamphlet/
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