When politics "ditches" even the water source, Tragjasi surrenders to the SP

Since learning about the implementation of the Tragjas-Himara Water Supply Project, a project that aims to build a collector and distributor of water from the Izvor springs towards Himara, the residents of Tragjas gathered 8 times among themselves and 2 times in the diaspora to show that they were against it.

The project, according to them, aimed to leave the residents of the area without water with the aim of diverting water towards the coast for dubious purposes.

The protests by the residents of Tragjas continued intensively, with clashes with police officers in some cases, tensions between them and local leaders, and even communication in high tones (as the residents claim) with the Prime Minister himself.

"We will boycott the elections," was one of the calls.

The call to boycott the elections also came from Tragjasio residents who live outside Albanian territory, but who returned to join the protests.

Tragjas' last protest was on March 22nd.

Just 2 weeks later, the electoral campaign began. The political leader of the Socialist Party, Bledi Çuçi, arrived.

"I want to say a few words to our friends from Tragjas with whom we have had discussions recently. We have been together for 30 years. You have never betrayed us in electoral battles and we have never let you down. And I promise you today from this square, we will never let you down," said Çuçi, calling for people to vote for the Socialist Party.

The residents of Tragjas responded to the call with a vote.

At the end of the vote, out of 257 voters, 162 chose the Socialist Party.

In parallel, the residents of Tragjas had also set up a joint communication group via Whatsapp with the title "protect the source".

After the results were published, there were discussions within this group, with some commenting that a yes vote would send a message to the government that they voted for it but would not withdraw.

But there were also reactions that called the vote in favor a betrayal of the residents' initiative.

Discussions within the residents of Tragjas ended with the dissolution of the group and a rift among them.

Just one day after the vote, on May 12, 2024, residents reported seeing heavy vehicles and large pipes in the area.

In an intermediate area between Tragjas and Dukat, work on laying pipes has begun.

Hamza Kulteli, a resident of Orikum, activist and participant in the Tragjas protests, tells Faktoje.al that: "Surprises don't last long, the election silence broke on the second day after the elections. The works began on the side of the national road in the place called "Hani i Abazit". The words spoken that were for the campaign were forgotten... At the river where the border of Dukat with Tragjas separates, the clash begins... As an individual, I am confident that the residents will not allow it to be taken at the source, somewhere else perhaps... In the future, we will see how deep the roots of power are, according to the votes or according to the words of the oath given"

Arben Shyti, organizer and leader of the Tragjas protests, has another perspective on the situation: "...During the campaign, there was discussion about boycotting the elections, but no agreement was reached, as the right-wingers demanded that the DP be voted for after they declared against the project, especially Leskaj, here they were divided after the leftists did not allow them to campaign, while the rightists held electoral meetings, under these conditions the boycott was broken and voting was held according to preferences, which was also favored by Bledi Çuçi's statements. But the elections passed and the noble sons of Tragjas will know how to unite for this vital problem for the village, in the village there are excellent right-wing and left-wing sons who work in their homeland, no one should touch them. We are full of hope that the project will change, we have also gone through the judicial process. If it happens that they come, we will treat them as traitors," he said./Faktoje.al