Rama's tour with the diaspora: Meetings with immigrants or electoral campaign?

From New York to Thessaloniki, Prime Minister Edi Rama has traveled around the world to hold meetings with Albanian diaspora communities before next year's elections. Opponents say he is trying to avoid resentment against him in the country.

Edi Rama came to Thessaloniki on Sunday with good news for the Albanian community in Greece.

Addressing a crowd of about 2,000 flag-waving supporters, Rama said they will be able to vote by mail in Albania's next parliamentary elections, to be held in the spring of 2025.

He declared that he returned to Greece "with a promise kept, for the right of every Albanian outside Albania to vote".

However, Rama was not received with universal enthusiasm. A small group of Greek nationalist protesters protested outside the Porto Palace hotel, where the prime minister was holding his meeting, accusing Albania of violating the rights of the country's ethnic Greek minority.

Relations between Albania and Greece have been strained in recent months following the jailing of elected ethnic Greek mayor Fredi Beleri by an Albanian court on vote-buying charges, although the politician has now been released. Athens has even threatened to block Tirana's progress towards EU membership over the issue of minority rights.

The Greek Foreign Ministry warned on Sunday that Athens demands "full respect, on the part of Albania, of the rights of the Greek ethnic minority" as "a clear condition of Albania's accession process".

But despite the diplomatic turbulence, the enthusiastic turnout for the speech is what Rama was looking for when he arrived in Thessaloniki. According to the Greek Statistics Authority, the Albanian community in Greece numbers around 375,000 – too many potential voters to cast their ballot by post.

Rama's trip to Thessaloniki was the latest in a series of foreign visits to diaspora communities ahead of the 2025 elections. He also plans to visit London, Milan and Munich, where large numbers of Albanian expatriates live.

His Socialist Party has been in power for three terms and he has been prime minister since 2013. Its chances of winning another term in office look good, with an opposition that is deeply divided and its two main leaders who are facing charges of corruption. The head of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, is currently under house arrest and the head of the Freedom Party, Ilir Meta, is in prison.

Megjithatë, qeveria e Ramës dhe Partia Socialiste gjithashtu janë përballur me problemet e tyre gjyqësore. Zyrtarë të ndryshëm të lartë, kryetarë bashkie, deputetë, madje edhe ish-zëvendëskryeministri i tij përballen me akuza për korrupsion dhe lidhje me krimin e organizuar.

Diaspora e Shqipërisë ka qenë gjithmonë e rëndësishme kur bëhet fjalë për zgjedhjet, për një arsye të thjeshtë: madhësinë e saj. Rreth 1.6 milionë shqiptarë kanë të drejtën e votës jashtë Shqipërisë. Sipas regjistrimit të fundit të popullsisë, Shqipëria ka vetëm 2.4 milionë banorë.

Rama njoftoi në maj se do të fillonte një turne për të takuar diasporën, me pretekstin patriotik që do t’u prezantonte shqiptarëve jashtë vendit vizionin e tij për planin e tij të zhvillimit “Shqipëria 2030” – një referencë për vitin që Rama thotë se vendi mund t’i bashkohet Bashkimit Evropian. Ai deklaroi se vizita e parë, në Athinë, kishte për qëllim “të angazhohesha me bashkëqytetarët e mi jashtë vendit dhe të ndaja krenarinë e Shqipërisë për ta dhe vizionin tonë për Shqipërinë në vitin 2030”.

Por Rigels Xhemollari, drejtor ekzekutiv i Qëndresa Qytetare, i tha BIRN se ai mendon se Rama po e përdor diasporën vetëm për qëllime elektorale.

Xhemollari tha se “në Shqipëri votuesit e zotit Rama janë ngopur me retorikën e tij dhe fjalimet e tij patetike dhe premtimet e pa mbajtura të vitit 2013 dhe se ai nuk ka lidhje me to në Shqipëri dhe po shkon e po luan ‘kartën patriotike’ – duke folur me ata jashtë vendi, por edhe po u flet atyre brenda vendit duke u sjellë si një lider që mendon për kombin”.

Ai shtoi se i sheh edhe këto takime si pjesë të strategjisë së Ramës për zgjedhjet e 2025, sepse qeveria e tij ka burime që mund t’i përdorë jashtë vendit në avantazhin e saj për të fituar votues të mundshëm – “mund të prodhojë karta identiteti, të identifikojë grupe në diasporë, të përdorë konsullatat dhe ambasadat dhe ka burime më të mëdha financiare”, tha ai.

Rama dukej se e pranoi se turi synon të fitojë vota kur ai vizitoi Nju-Jorkun muajin e kaluar.

Në qytetin amerikan, ai u bëri thirrje emigrantëve shqiptarë të marrin pjesë në zgjedhjet e ardhshme parlamentare, në mënyrë që të mos “rrezikohet progresi që Shqipëria ka bërë deri tani”.

“Shqipëria ka bërë përparim të jashtëzakonshëm, por është ende një progres në rrezik nëse të gjithë nuk e vazhdojmë përpara këtë kilometër të fundit për t’u bërë anëtar i BE-së”, tha ai, sipas Top Channel.

Megjithatë, telashet e tij në vend e pasuan edhe në Nju-Jork: vizita e tij u prit me një protestë nga anëtarët e organizatës “Diaspora për Shqipërinë e Lirë”, të cilët ia ndërprenë fjalimin dhe u larguan nga takimi.

Organizata deklaroi se “nuk do të heshtë përballë një lideri që përpiqet të justifikojë dështimet e veta duke fajësuar të tjerët”.

For Afrim Krasniqi, a political expert based in Tirana who runs the Institute for Political Studies, the Socialist Party of Rama is looking for new support abroad because voters in the country are tired of its electoral promises.

"The Socialist Party has focused on the diaspora for several reasons: due to dissatisfaction within the country, the impossibility of reforms, there is great dissatisfaction in the traditional support groups of the Socialist Party and a decrease in the number of members," Krasniqi told BIRN.

"The only source of votes that the Socialist Party should focus on are individuals who do not live in Albania", he added.

Public resources for party uses?

Rama's meetings with the diaspora have also raised doubts about whether the Socialist Party is using the public administration for electoral purposes.

Gazment Bardhi from the opposition Democratic Party raised this issue after the trip to New York, posting on social networks photos of Albanian ambassadors participating in Rama's meetings.

"The diplomatic corps never, anywhere, participates in party activities and even less serves as an electoral body of the party in power. The function requires political independence and to represent Albania in a dignified way around the world", said Bardhi.

He called on the president to intervene and warned that he had prepared an indictment against Rama and the ambassadors he identified as having attended these meetings.

Xhemollari said that a legislative change has allowed Rama to exercise more power over the diplomatic corps.

"We had a change in the 2015 law on diplomacy where the powers of the president were taken over by the prime minister and the prime minister has the power to appoint ambassadors and can use that as he likes in an electoral situation," he said.

He added that the Citizen and Diaspora Resistance for Free Albania protested a previous incident when the then ambassador to the US "participated in the activities of the Socialist Party" during an election campaign.

Krasniqi also believes that the Socialist Party will try to use its administrative resources to secure the votes of the diaspora; however, he said he expects the number of voters from the diaspora to be small because "the voting procedure for the diaspora is extremely complicated with prior registration, documents with financial costs, etc."

The lack of voting opportunities for diaspora Albanians has long been a political issue, but for the upcoming elections, a compromise solution between the parties was agreed upon in July of this year.

As his diaspora tour continues, Rama hopes that Albanians abroad will now vote for him./ BIRN