Dritan Leli 2.0/ The untold stories of the "political trial" behind closed doors in Vlora

What happened today in Vlora with Edi Rama's surprise visit to the city's municipal offices is the next act of an irrevocable clash that could lead this municipality to early elections. Lapsi.al has learned from sources inside that meeting, details that are reminiscent of another similar clash between the prime minister and the then mayor, Dritan Leli.

This time the protagonist is Ermal Dredha, the diplomat who arrived from Dubai two years ago to be elected mayor of Vlora. But unlike the glories of the campaign when he brought him to Vlora as a sponsor of family ties in the SP dome, now Edi Rama has nothing but venom and disappointment for Ermal Dredha.

He didn't spare himself from publicly teasing her in the SP courtyard for the party's 34th anniversary celebration, and he even teased her a little more today inside the municipality offices.

As our source inside the meeting told us, Edi Rama listened little to Dredha and flogged him heavily in front of the deputies and key municipal leaders. Dredha asked to speak first even though he was not the one who actually called the meeting.

Rama, meanwhile, cut him off, addressing him with the words "you'd better get some sleep...". Dredha replied with the words "I've only had 3 hours of sleep", wanting to show his boss that he was dedicating himself very much to his duty as the mayor of Vlora. But Rama continued the irony about sleep by telling him "it's even worse that you're sleepless", implying that the mayor lacked clarity.

Like the bad student in the class, Rama also put Ermal Dredha in front of his party friends. He asked one of the new MPs from the closed list of the Vlora district, Erjona Ismail, to say at the meeting all the bad things she had written to him by text message about Ermal Dredha and the way he runs Vlora.

Of course, the new Socialist MP in Vlora and untested for electoral weight, did not let the criticism of Mayor Dredha go unnoticed. Although the latter was trying to provide an argument for every criticism or problem that was attributed to him, as Lapsi.al's source tells us during that meeting, Rama had nothing to calm him down. "You sir, cannot get us out of the hole you have sunk us into, but at least do not sink us deeper," Rama told Dredha.

The damage to several investments in Vlora, the lack of drinking water, or the repeated fire in the garbage field were some of the issues that have angered Rama. And this is not a newly created situation, but one that has accumulated over a long time.

In the same meeting, Edi Rama compared Ermal Dredha to former mayor Dritan Leli, with whom he also had a similar clash until he completely ignored him and expelled him from the party for the last two years of his mandate. "You sir are Dritan Leli 2.0, do you know that or not?!", Rama addressed Dredha at one point, Lapsi.al's source from inside that meeting tells us.

So indignant was Edi Rama with Vlora and the people of Vlora that the risk that he could get liver cancer from stress was mentioned to him at the meeting. For some at the meeting this sounded ironic, and for others who see Edi Rama as an idol, they began to really worry and beat their chests to find solutions to the problems, not so much to save Vlora as to save the health of their leader.

Edi Rama is not only in trouble in the municipality, but also in the PS of Vlora. He ordered the newly elected deputy, Erjona Ismaili, and the candidate for deputy, Klevis Kaso, to this task. In addition, he demanded the forced resignation of all directors of the Municipality of Vlora, including the regional directors of central institutions. In the meantime, he set up a party commission for new appointments in the municipality and new directorates and monitoring the problems to be solved.

He has so devalued Ermal Dredha that he has forced him to give an account in front of this commission with deputies and exponents of the SP and to lead Vlora together. Edi Rama is furious with his mayor who was catapulted as a new figure in the SP who promised a lot, but now at the end of two years in his eyes he is an unripe watermelon that no longer needs to be tested since we know what is inside.

Rama's revenge against Dredha seems exaggerated, at least when it comes to the problem of drinking water supply. The Vlora Water Supply Company is no longer dependent on the municipality or under its control. The law there is made by the Ministry of Infrastructure, which is the main shareholder in the new regional water supply companies. But even on the issue of garbage, Ermal Dredha had his hands tied when it came to putting the Sherisha landfill into operation, a project that was entrusted to Klodian Zoto's company "Integrated Technology Services", which also has the ghost incinerator of Tirana.

But the fact is now that the leader of Rilindja has opened a new war front within his own ranks. It is not known how far the dissatisfaction and clash with the mayor of Vlora will go, who like many other socialists does not dare to stand up to Rama. He even accepts being humiliated by him in the parliament and in closed meetings like today's.

So far it seems we have another déjà vu like the one from 4 years ago with Dritan Leli. This could be the beginning of the end for the diplomat who became the first citizen of Vlora just like his father who led Vlora in the years 1998-2000./ Lapsi.al