SP MPs, Ogerta Manastirliu and Agron Malaj, seem to have also taken on the responsibility of managing the affairs of the municipalities of Tirana and Mat.
In the absence of Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, who is in prison, the declared mayoral candidate in the failed elections, Ogerta Manastirliu, seems to have assumed the role of mayor even before the vote. This is evident in the meetings she has been organizing for several weeks in different areas of the capital, where she leads discussions on the 2026 Tirana Municipality budget, while official representatives of the Municipality appear only as a background during the activity.
But if Manastirliu remains a "tentative" mayor, another SP MP, Agron Malaj, seems not to have left behind the role of mayor of Mati. Malaj left office to be elected MP in the May 11 elections, but his resignation seems to have been purely procedural, because practically he has not withdrawn from the management of the municipality. Although Mati has a new mayor elected on November 9, Myslim Zeneli, Malaj is regularly seen in his posts meeting citizens at public hearings on the budget, while the new mayor appears almost like an ordinary employee.
This behavior of SP deputies has raised concerns about the politicization of the local budget and the "usurpation" of municipal leadership by the ruling party, in violation of the Constitution, local legislation, and the European Charter of Local Self-Government.
Agron Malaj is a name that has recently surfaced in the January 21 file: he was part of the firing squad that allegedly fired at protesters.
