By Preç Zogaj
I have an old friend who does research at Columbia University in the United States. She emigrated there a quarter of a century ago. She returns to Albania now and then — not too often, but not too rarely either.
Every time she visits, she tells me that after adjusting to the time difference between Albania and America — something every transatlantic traveler experiences — she faces a far greater disruption: the mismatch between the present of New York and the present of Albania, as seen through the news, Parliament sessions, debates, and election campaigns.
She finds this political Albania stuck in yesterday — or even the day before yesterday — as if time has come to a standstill. Almost identical to the Albania she left behind on her previous visit, and the one before that, and the one before that.
The same faces at the head of the traditional parties, surrendering to the passage of time, not by any choice of their own, but because they can do nothing else — aging, wrinkling, worn down by use and overuse.
The same language from the podiums and the television screens — simulating harshness to mask sameness, feigning change because change is not natural, not organic.
The same vocabulary, the same unpolished language and ethics that hinder normal conversation and prevent meaningful debate.
The same irreconcilable disputes over issues that should not divide — like European Union integration, for example.
The same “Year Zero” syndrome from those who come to power and those who seek it — acting as though everything began with them and will end with them, as though the other side achieved nothing. Even though every government leaves behind a record of works and achievements. Even though time works and keeps working, and the country has changed and continues to change.
The same topics under review, the same approaches, the same tones, the same grimaces that words cannot fully capture.
The same difficulty in accepting the division of powers and limiting the field of political action.
“Is Albania changing?” my friend asked me a few months ago, with a touch of irony, as the electoral campaign season approached.
I would have said to her: Just look at the campaigns of the two main parties and start writing.
They are mere copies of previous campaigns.
Rama, with his denigrating language, his theatrical extravagance, his obsession with acting like the darling of women, and his Year Zero syndrome, speaking as if no one before him ever hammered a nail into the walls of Albania.
As if, before he came to power, people traveled to Kosovo, Vlora, or Korça on horseback or on foot, not on highways and rebuilt roads.
Berisha, too, has succumbed to the Year Zero syndrome — preaching everywhere that nothing good has happened during the past twelve years.
Yet the truth is, there have been good things achieved, and recognizing them would only honor him and increase his credibility as an opposition leader.
We could mention, for instance, the tourism boom, which might have come naturally over time, but certainly not without laying down some essential conditions and launching a successful campaign to promote Albania in Europe and the world.
The Democratic Party, under its current leadership, fights the Prime Minister — now a record-holder for longevity in office — in the exact same way they did during his first term: with the same words, the same terms, the same hysteria.
Without taking into account the passage of time, without adapting strategies and tactics of public communication and political confrontation.
Ignoring new factors in the equation, such as the Special Anti-Corruption Structure (SPAK), which was previously non-existent.
You cannot expect different results by doing the same things over and over again.
In fact, Berisha’s Democratic Party has taken certain steps that only a party unconcerned with returning to power would take — such as approving a sheepish electoral law and, as if that weren’t enough, deepening internal divisions between patricians and plebeians with their candidate lists.
The drums of the campaign and the rhetoric of a “decisive battle” will pound even harder in the remaining days.
In the context of the times and the ongoing processes — notably the legal fight against high-level corruption — all the conditions are there for May 11, 2025, to be the last electoral campaign without real change, conducted by a corrupt and outdated political elite.
The final gasp of the transition, as it were.
True pluralism will emerge — and with it, a more effective political life.
Parties and their leaders will no longer feign difference in front of their followers while secretly sharing bonuses and spoils under the table.
They will genuinely differ in ideas and alternative visions.
Language and communication will have more substance and ethics, and far less pollution.
Politics will finally yield the spotlight to freedom;
the rule of cliques will give way to the rule of law;
partisanship will find its balance with intellectual honesty;
winners will win by acknowledging the worthy achievements of their opponents;
and losers will shake the winners’ hands…
