New Albanian Party to Contest Polls as Opposition Vows Boycott

Democratic Party protesters hold a placard saying "Rama Go" at a rally in Tirana on February 16. Photo: BIRN

Led by Astrit Patozi, a former deputy chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, the new party says it hopes to be the main electoral alternative to both the government and the opposition.

"Our political system is based on mutual guarantees provided for each other by the two main rivals in the country, whose aim is to subdue any democratic spirit in their respective camps," Patozi wrote on Facebook note as he announcedthe new party.

"We are not living under a parliamentary democracy but under a system in which the party in power controls everything. We are living under a party regime," he added.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party signed protocols to create a coalition with several smaller parties, including Socialist Movement for Integration, a nominally left-wing party.

Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha said the coalition will refuse to participate in the elections and called for Prime Minister Edi Rama's resignation.

"There will be no fake elections," Basha said.

Responding to his statement, Rama said in a Twitter post that the elections will go ahead as planned on June 30 despite any boycott.

"A coalition against the elections is another form of political suicide," Rama wrote.

"The elections will not be stopped, nor they will be postponed," he added.

The Democratic Party, which represents the main opposition in Albania, decided to withdraw its MPs from parliament last February and has staged several major protests, some of which ended in violence.

However, since it left parliament, some of its candidates have agreed to take their seats in parliament and created a new parliamentary group.<...