'500 thousand lek for 5 votes'! The author of the video that documented how Rama bought voters in Dibër is threatened

The head of the National Council of the Democratic Party, Edi Paloka, in a statement to the media from the DP headquarters, indicated that Lulzim Memashi, a DP member who documented with video how Rama bought votes in Dibër in the May 11 elections, has received death threats.

The video confirms that the Socialist Party paid 500 thousand lek for 5 votes. The video shows a young man who admits to the camera that he sold 5 of his family's votes for 500 thousand lek.

After the release of this video yesterday, two people went to his workplace and threatened him, saying: "What have you done to yourself with what you released, you will see what we will do," Paloka reported today.

He underlined that Lulzim Memashi will be protected by the DP.  

 The denounced scheme is one of the manipulated and criminal practices that were noted during the electoral process in Albania.

Paloka emphasized that the government has used a rampant strategy to buy and control citizens' votes, emphasizing that this phenomenon is not unknown to Albanians, as it has been documented in many cases and videos on social networks.

Paloka's full speech:

"I'm not here to denounce vote buying, like this video that you find hundreds and thousands of times on social networks, not just like this video made secretly without the knowledge of the one who was showing the electoral crime, there are also videos where you have seen the expression and even offers for votes to Albanian citizens.

I'm not here for this, I'm here to make another complaint. The author of this video is Lulzim Memashi, who is here with me, a member of the Democratic Party for years, has been a commissioner together with his daughter in the elections, is a family man in a difficult economic situation, has a sick son and his wife left him a few months ago and today he is forced to work as a taxi driver with a car that he bought not with his own money.

After this video was released yesterday, two people went to his workplace and threatened him, saying: "What have you done to yourself with what you have released, you will see what we will do."

I don't remember them buying the will of the Albanians, they are not satisfied with what they have done to maintain this power, but they seek to silence those who denounce them, and today I am here to denounce them as an opportunity and to publicly defend Lulzim.

I want to tell anyone who thinks that with this fourth mandate of Rama he can do whatever he wants with the Democrats, he is wrong.

Rama can become king, buy the train, buy the majority of Albanians, forget that we can fight with the Democrats.

We are more or less who we are, we have stood in the face of it every day, and I warn you not to let it get you thinking that you will take revenge on those who refused to be sold or afraid or return to the slavery of this regime.

Lulzim Memashi is here, he is a democrat, he is not here today because he is scared, but he is here because I asked for this fact to be made public, to show that what was going to be done was not enough for you, but now they are trying to scare those who opposed him, they are pressuring and threatening you, just imagine what they have done with that.

This is the denunciation that I am sharing with you today, we will have other cases that we will make public. Thank you!