With publicly expressed intentions to "resurrect" and "reawaken" the Democratic Party, former MP and member of the party's leadership, Ervin Salianji, has begun a tour of meetings with party structures, a move that is seen as a challenge to the historic leader Sali Berisha and the lack of analysis after the deep defeat in the May 11 parliamentary elections.
Salianji, accompanied by one of the most voted candidates for the Tirana list, Ilir Alimehmeti, held a meeting with Democrats from the city of Durrës on Wednesday, where they spoke about the Democrats' need to be heard by the party leaders.
"Personally, I feel your pain and that of every democracy. The losses and thefts have eroded our souls and I know the disappointment. I know the problems with closed lists," Salianji said at this meeting.
Although it has not yet revealed any overt ambitions to challenge the party's leader or any concrete platform for reforming it, the movement has stirred up trouble in the largest opposition party that has faced divisions and declining electorate since losing power in 2013.
The leader of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, accused Salianji on Thursday of having a "personal and private agenda," while also making accusations against other participants in the Durrës meeting.
"There was a group of dissatisfied people there. There were others who worked for the SP and they are afraid that it will come out against them," Berisha told reporters. He warned that there would be "accountability" before the structures for those who, according to him, did not work for the DP campaign.
"Private agendas, some of which I recognized because I saw individuals who had escaped from the tourism campaign...," he added.
Salianji was elected MP in 2017 as a representative of the Korça district, but in September 2024, his mandate as MP was terminated after the court sentenced him to 1 year in prison for the criminal offense of false reporting in connection with an audio recording that allegedly exposed the criminal connections of the brother of former Interior Minister Fatmir Xhafaj. The trial was described by Salianji and the Democratic Party as politically rigged.
Salianji has brought other discontented people within the ranks of the DP closer to him, such as Dr. Alimehmeti, a young charismatic figure who was unable to enter parliament due to the Democratic Party's poor performance in Tirana.
Despite attacks from the Democratic Party, political experts see this move as healthy for democracy within the party, even though they say it lacks the vision to address the Democratic Party's crisis of public credibility.
"The move of Salijanj and Alimehmet is a sign of dissatisfaction within the DP, as well as a sign of a possibility for rivalry for the party leader," said Ermal Hasimja, a lecturer in Political Science.
According to him, Salianji and Alimehmeti are not the first to try it, but they are in slightly different conditions than previous "uprisings", due to the difficult situation the opposition finds itself in today.
"Most likely, in the coming days, an upward spiral of healthy political confrontation will be created within the party. I say 'healthy' because I think the biggest danger for the DP is the status quo, and not challenging the situation," Hasimja added.
Analyst Neritan Sejamini views the newly launched movement with skepticism and the fact that, like the party leaders, others also hold meetings with militants within the party.
"The main problem with developments in the DP is that they only deal with party militants, while this party has a problem with public credibility," Sejamini told BIRN, adding that "party activities do not have to be done in front of the cameras because they risk weakening the essence of the discussion."
However, Sejamin considers any move in terms of challenging for the presidency of the DP to be good, but according to him, this challenge must have a clear vision for the public.
"Berisha has said that he will run for mayor again and the challenge is good in this regard, but those who run must have a vision and not just a vision for strengthening the DP, but a vision for Albania and what the DP's governance should be like," suggests Sejamini.
The movement led by Salianji and Alimehmeti comes at a time when the internal conflict in the Democratic Party is still fresh and where the political and legal battle between Berisha and former president Basha lasted for more than two years.
The conflict, which escalated into physical clashes between supporters of both parties to take over the party headquarters, began in the fall of 2021, when Basha expelled Berisha from the parliamentary group after he was declared "non grata" by the United States of America.
Berisha, who resigned from the party leadership after losing the 2013 elections but continued to remain an MP and maintain political influence, began the so-called 'pulpit', a round of meetings with party members that culminated in the creation of parallel structures and the eventual retaking of the party leadership.
However, Berisha failed to win the public's trust to bring the Democratic Party back to power, while he is facing justice for corruption charges related to the file known as the former Partizani sports club. /BIRN/
