Edi Rama's return to the (losing) 2011 campaign

Alfred Lela
 In 2011, Edi Rama ignored the Democratic Party’s campaign in the very municipality he led — Tirana. The Democratic candidate, Lulzim Basha, ran a calm, clean campaign, free of insults and, most importantly, rich in content and concrete proposals.

It was a textbook case of what a challenger must do when facing an entrenched incumbent: offer contrast, clarity, and an alternative. Rama initially dismissed the Democratic campaign entirely, traveling across Albania as if the race were national, even though the true battleground was local, and Tirana was at its heart. But within two weeks, things began to shift. Realizing that he was losing ground and that Basha’s platform was resonating, Rama pivoted — too late.

Fast forward to 2025, and history seems to be repeating itself. Some things have changed, but not much. Back then, the campaign was led by Sali Berisha, with American advisors at the helm. Just like now. Rama was being coached by foreign consultants. Just like now.

What hasn’t changed is the central truth: nothing saves Edi Rama from his arrogance. He tends to realize the damage he has caused only when it’s too late.

Then, as now, Rama dismissed the opposition’s campaign — the 'owl' (a metaphor used by Rama for Berisha’s movement) — as a "magic carpet". But Sali Berisha did not engage in tactics. He engaged in strategy. Upon emerging from isolation, in his very first public appearance, Berisha avoided discussing his house arrest and immediately shifted the national conversation to the opposition’s program. From early December 2024 onward, he consistently laid out a platform rooted in economic policy, a "Compassion Package", and strong support for pensioners.

For six months now, the opposition leader has articulated a three-level vision for Albania:

For the impossible — those who must be lifted from destitution
For the middle class, which must be liberated from over-taxation and stagnation
For the creative/productive class, for whom enabling conditions must be created, through policies like Made in Albania and positioning Albania as the regional ICT hub
What has Rama offered in return? One tactic: the European passport. As a matter of political philosophy, this is not a platform — it is an insult. Just as one does not speak of ropes in the house of a hanged man, one does not speak of “escape” in a land emptied by forced migration. Rama has overseen the exodus of over 1 million Albanians, and now his great promise is… more exodus.

By proposing the passport as a centerpiece of his campaign, Rama brands himself as a prime minister detached from his nation’s traumas, and deeply tethered to his obsessions. The European passport is not a development platform. It is a diversion.

And yet, something curious is happening. Rama, who once derided Berisha’s platform — mocking proposals like the living minimum and minimum pension as paths to economic ruin — has now begun to appropriate them. At least six of Berisha’s promises have been mirrored by Rama, one after the other.

Just like in 2011, Rama is being pulled into Berisha’s orbit. He can no longer ignore the campaign. He walks Albania now with figures and charts, a far cry from the theatrical disdain of the past. But the owl still haunts him. The populist storms still rage behind him. Only now, he plays the serious man—perhaps too late.

Welcome to the campaign, Mr. Rama.
If history repeats itself and you lose narrowly, the anger will be bitter. But at least one thing will have changed:

Your sabbatical retreat won’t be in Peza — it will be in Surrel.