by Preç Zogaj
The sarcastic saying about elections is well known: “If they changed anything, they would have banned them.”
This refers to farcical elections like those in Russia and other regimes with a democratic facade but autocratic in essence, where elections are controlled by a single person or an unchanging elite in both power and opposition.
Laced with dark humor, this saying also applies to our country. Here, we are not only talking about simulated pluralism, where the two main parties, the Socialist Party (PS) and the Democratic Party (PD), compete as if they were different, while governing in the same way, which is enough to strip elections of their magic of change.
Instead of healing over the years, this infantile disease from the origins of pluralism in our country, explainable in the Albanian context of emerging from communism, has become a chronic condition, made worse by the disappearance of democratic career systems and the circulation of elites within political parties.
For sixteen years, we’ve been under the system of appointing MPs with closed lists, a system that saw an unparalleled “reform” in the elections of May 11 this year, where open lists at the tail end still serve closed lists at the top.
Since we’re discussing original Albanian finds, we must acknowledge one major contribution by Prime Minister Edi Rama. Besides the system of the patronizing relationship between patricians and plebeians in collaboration with Sali Berisha, he invented the selection of MPs via applications, similar to applying for regular jobs. By ignoring the specifics of building a career as a party and public commitment, measurable and gradual for every young person, it leads to massive misunderstandings about how a political career is built.
In fact, Rama faced a major problem: how to protect his MPs and party officials from investigations by the Special Prosecutor’s Office (SPAK), where, with high probability, criminal investigations do not come up empty-handed, finding abuse and theft wherever they go.
For this reason, aside from a few career MPs who haven’t sullied themselves with corrupt affairs, he needed as many “virgin” MPs as possible. This seems justifiable in the context of an unyielding anti-corruption backlash. But I believe that a risk is not fought with extravaganza that is disconnected from how careers are made in politics, where two basic elements stand out: systematic engagement for party members and outstanding works and significant public contributions for intellectuals without parties.
The appointment of MPs through applications is a political brand that adds to the previous two of Edi Rama in terms of originality: promoting crime in power and the Voter Registry as a strategic element in their encirclement. Despite not being of the same category, this system of appointments via application doesn’t compare to the damage caused to democracy by the other two.
Politicians are remembered in history for their state-building democratic works and for making great investments that are untainted by corruption or tyrannical behavior. Rama has never considered a constitutional reform that allows competition and empowers voters. He seems happy to write and seal it himself, calculating Berisha as the main asset blocking the conversion of his governance into the loss of power. Even after twelve years!
In the elections of May 11, Berisha seeks to pass the “berishism” framework. Not only the one of a past time. The new Berishism of a leader sanctioned by the US and UK and currently under judicial process for charges raised by SPAK. The new Berishism implies blind acceptance of his narrative on these events. While awaiting the court’s decision on the SPAK accusations, the non-Berisha public takes the American and British decision against him as final, with no instruments to see it otherwise, unless Washington and London retract.
Berishists have been the majority in PD, but a minority in Albania. PD has only won through diversity, open to currents and styles within it. The list of healing, not at all surprising, in fact logical, reads Berisha’s main goal: to keep ranks in opposition. Then, whatever is written will follow. There are plenty of Democrats and even socialists who hope that Berisha’s non-grata status will be lifted by the US. Opening the path for him would remove the principled dividing line set by his sanctioning from the strategic ally.
All of this is anticipation. Meanwhile, those challenged by the new realities of our time face a sad reality with a list of lost elections. It’s almost as if the voters are being caught in a dilemma: either vote for us, or kill yourselves. For us, we lose nothing!
Thus, add to this the fact that the small opposition parties failed to unite under a single seal, and the elections of May 11 are a clear signal that nothing will change.
