Democratic Party MP Ervin Salianji has publicly reacted to the accusations leveled against him, in a status where he considers them fabricated and part of a political ploy aimed at preventing him from contesting the elections.
Salianji says that the only way that, according to him, Edi Rama found to hinder him in the elections was false accusations, in a battle that he describes as a direct confrontation with one of the most powerful mafia groups in the country. He emphasizes that in an open competition he has shown that he wins, citing political confrontations in Korça, Kavaja and within the Democratic Party itself.
"My only strength is my personality, my will, and the support of the people," writes Salianji.
Referring to accusations that he has met with people he himself has denounced for years, including the name of Suel Çela, Salianji describes these claims as "imaginary" and evidence of political misery, especially when, according to him, it is known that other figures have had direct links with criminal elements for personal interests.
Salianji also talks about the DP MP, Arjan Ndoja, who he says did not include a former prosecutor who was traveling in a car with criminals on the list.
"As for me, I have not appointed, nor commanded structures to elect as a member of the Democratic Party someone who, in the function of a prosecutor who should fight gangs, is in a car with them, under a hail of bullets with some of the most dangerous criminals! This is a red line and damage to the moral card of the opposition," said Salianji.
He adds that under normal conditions of a democracy he would face these charges in court, but explains that the public reaction comes due to a political battle that is directly related to the fate of the Democratic Party.
"Instead, I will continue as always: at the scenes of crime, corruption and their accomplices in the bazaars," he says.
Salianji lists a series of problems that, according to him, Democrats and society are openly articulating, from successive losses and failure to keep their word, to the degradation of political debate, the promotion of serial losers, the lack of protests, and the inability to make the Democratic Party a winning force.
In this context, he accuses the current leaders of, instead of being accountable, smearing the Democrats and demanding accountability from them.
In one of the strongest passages of the reaction, Salianji sets a "moral red line", stating that he has never appointed or commanded structures that led to the election as a Democratic Party MP of a person who, in his capacity as a prosecutor, was found in a car with criminal gangs under a hail of bullets.
"This is damage to the opposition's moral charter," he emphasizes.
In closing, Salianji declares that he will continue his political path through direct meetings with the democrats, "face to face, with freedom and truth", underlining that the democrats and opposition citizens deserve political rotation.
