In a move that proves that the Democratic Party has remained in love with form but divorced from content, organizational secretary Ervin Minarolli has made an official request to the CEC for “electoral equipment.” As the party prepares for its internal processes, it has officially requested 50 ballot boxes, 100 secret rooms, and 500 security seals.
It seems that for the DP leadership, democracy is simply a matter of plastic inventory.
The irony lies in the fact that, while the DP seeks secret chambers to guarantee “transparency and security,” the party’s race is now reduced to its mathematical minimum: a single candidate and an indisputably elected chairman – Sali Berisha.
While curtains are being sought for the secrecy of the vote, what is missing is the race itself.
The irony also lies in the fact that while the DP seeks secret rooms to guarantee "transparency and security", it is showing a special skill in closing the doors to voices critical of the authority of Sali Berisha or his antechamber.
Sali Berisha's first rival for the post of mayor, Ervin Salianji, was rejected by the blue headquarters from the start, with the argument that he is self-excluded from the party and not a member of it.
For Salianji, the "secret room" became a hermetically sealed "door".
If the security seals that Minarolli demands serve to seal the boxes, the party's "seal" is being used with full efficiency to seal the fate of anyone who dares to think differently. After Salianji's elimination from the race, the "broom" has begun to operate at record speeds: any pro-Salianji voice is being treated as a heretic.
The "democracy of the boxes" was recently reflected in Durrës, where two municipal councilors were expelled as soon as they were identified as part of the rival circle of the "historical leader".
It is surprising how the DP insists on the "required standards of election administration" when it comes to the plastic and cardboard of secret rooms, but fails to apply the most minimal standard of the competition: the presence of a rival.
At the end of the day, the DP may be given the boxes and secret rooms by the CEC, but they will remain mere decorative objects in a house where the winner is known before the first package of security seals is even opened.
