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The dialogue group for 'Reforms' between the opposition and the majority is constituted
Alfred Lela
Under normal circumstances, March 6 would be nothing more than a routine on the political calendar. There are on this date, however, elements that emerge from the ordinary. Votes are cast, for example, on constituencies whose mayors have fallen into the trap of decriminalization, such as Lushnja and Shkodra. Voting takes place in 6 out of 60 municipalities, thanks to a political decision of Lulzim Basha to boycott the 2019 elections which gave all but one of them to the Socialist Party. Mandates for 6 mayors will last less than a year; voters will go to the polls again in a few months in the 2023 standard round.
All are signs of an Albanian political system, full of flaws, that tends to self-correct from within or to be corrected by external pressures. Signs that the Albanian political calendar does not obey democratic laws. Not yet. It is a mechanical union of ruptures and imbalances that make Albania still look like a banana republic.
March 6 has no task to undo this disorder and balance this breakdown. He is too small and partial for that. But one thing it can do: enlighten the Democratic Party, its leadership, and electorate.
From September last year onwards, through the spectacular and (un) balancing stations of December 11 and 18, and further January 8, this force already divided in two has poured all the energies of itself and society for it. To determine which of the parts is the majority. Which of them can be certified as the bearer of the will of the democratic majority? Who can legitimize itself as the interpreter of the will of this majority and then call under the shelter the minority?
These questions might be answered by March 6 and here lies its importance. The count, which emerges from this vote, could shed light on the disputed events of both parties in the DP, December 11 and 18. It can tell us if 5004 people can sit in 1900 and some chairs, or if there were over 4990 delegates in Berisha's Assembly.
Basha and Berisha should get ready for the March 6 numbers and not play games like before. Not just them, but their supporters as well. Not only them but also US Ambassador Yuri Kim. Which should read March 6 as a confirmation or refutation of her rhetorical intensity in relation to the DP and the rapports of forces in this party.
In the end, we will all be able to see who the people of March 6 are, but more than that who their leaders are. Beyond Rama, who calmly awaits March 6, Lulzim Basha and Sali Berisha expect to be reclaimed or politically disenfranchised by him.
It will take manhood, both for undoing and for reclaiming. It is never too late to claim your manhood.
Manhood, as Harvard professor Harvey Mansfield notes, goes against the ideology of gender neutrality of today, and politics is never neutral, it has its own clear sex.