By Desada Metaj
Edi Rama has not chosen Ogerta Manastirliu as a candidate for mayor of Tirana by chance. After Erion Veliaj, who crystallized in the third mandate as the number two of the SP, where along with the governance of Tirana, the political appetite also grew, it seems that the prime minister this time has chosen a candidate who, in any of her days in government, has not thought of overshadowing the big boss. Unlike Veliaj, who from time to time lit the lamp of ambition to surpass from number two to something higher, Manastirliu is clear that if she is elected, she will be there simply as Edi Rama's deputy in the municipality. In this context, she will have the full support of the prime minister, the SP structures and above all, the powerful electoral machinery of the SP will be at her disposal.
On the other hand, amid the lack of an analysis for the May 11 elections and the projection of a candidate for Tirana, the opposition is dragging its feet to find a name that is still unknown whether it will be from the DP or from civil society. Since Sali Berisha has not yet spoken publicly on this topic, others under him have not even bothered to be clear, except when they have expressed their wishes. Today, in a public appearance, the leader of the DP even said that he has appointed Këlliçi, Noka and Alimehmet as the negotiating group with the opposition parties. But what does this mean? Politically and electorally, no party within the coalition led by the DP has received the votes to have a voice in the chapter of selecting the candidate. These negotiations seem even more absurd when you see that Arlind Qori will likely run alone in Tirana, while Agron Shehaj insists on finding a candidate outside politics but who will have the support of the opposition parties. A completely calculated variant as a business and not as a political will of a force that must overturn a result stamped for many years in Tirana. Tirana is the capital of the country and the race for it is in a way also the race for Albania. The DP and the opposition do not have Manastirli facing them in the expected elections. Facing them is Edi Rama. Therefore, naivety and calculations for a non-political candidate and the union of opposition parties to support him will likely be simply the excuse for losing the race. In all cases when the DP has won or come close to winning in Tirana, it has been when its candidates were strong political figures with the support of the party and its structures. How can you think that a party that has been in disarray after the defeat of May 11th would organize itself to support an anonymous person who comes to face Edi Rama? How naive or thoughtless do you have to be to understand that the Tirana race is the last chance for the DP to not collapse further, but to have the opportunity to recover electoral weight?
In Tirana, the opposition needs and must confront its main political figures. Those who led the closed list or those who boasted that they were the most voted in the capital. Spartak Ngjela, Sokol Olldashi, Lulzim Basha and Belind Këlliçi handed over their mandates as MPs to compete against Edi Rama in Tirana. Because the race for the capital is not what decides who will be the director of the Water Supply or the Municipal Police. It is the confrontation that decides who will be the man who can challenge Sali Berisha at the head of the DP. And since this seems like an impossible mission that no one dares to even think about, the opposition seems to be looking for a candidate who will have it easier to justify another battle, in which it is entering neither less nor more, but like on May 11. Where the result was known and the culprit continues to remain an orphan.
