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Polish writer: Long live the party, long live the new generation of Albanian politicians with mafia support!

Politiko 2025-05-17 13:12:33

Polish writer: Long live the party, long live the new generation of Albanian

Margo Reimer

The first three days after the parliamentary elections in Albania felt like I was stuck in the swamp and had no strength to get out.
1. Everyone knew that Edie Rama's Socialist Party would win, but the scale of his victory is overwhelming – 52 per cent support, which in the quirky Albanian proportional system puts a postponement to 83 seats in parliament (to 140). This is Rama's fourth term. The more Rama corrupts the system, the more affairs he has on his account, the more arrogant and aggressive he is, the more mandates he earns in the parliament.
2. How does he do it? In 2013, Rama came to power with slogans of fighting corruption, informality, strengthening of state administration, and institutions. The first thing he did was shut down the marijuana republic of Lazarat, affiliated with the Democratic Party, and the world sighed in awe: the rule of law! Meanwhile, for twelve years, Rama built a system in which he took nearly complete control of the media, brought civil society to a collapse, deepened the crisis of the education system, especially at the university level, and turned the administration into a gigantic machine that works for the ruling party. In Tirana, gigantic money from the cocaine trade are being laundered and new high towers are being built, and no one is asking themselves: where did all this big money come from? And first of all, why would a depopulating country need a dozen more skyscrapers over two hundred meters?
3. Miracles are possible in Albania, such as choosing 29-year-old Sara Mila from the list of the open Socialist Party, for whom the cocaine mafia from Elbasan was collecting votes. The mafios wanted their own man in the parliament, leaving out the mediation of Rama, and what is it to buy them over 18 thousand votes? The widely unknown Sara Mila obtained the second-best election result in the country. Long live the party, long live a new generation of Albanian politicians backed by the mafia!
4. In Albania, you usually don't get a job in the budget unless you are somehow affiliated with the Socialist Party. And if you already work in the budget, you become a militant who has to work for the party, or else you will lose your job. Edi Rama has created a system of tens of thousands of patrons who collect sensitive information about Albanians' electoral preferences. About who could get something in return for a vote. Years go by, and many people who built a home in the heat of the 1990s still cannot legalize them because cases continue in court for decades. So imagine this: after so many years there, you get a signal that the authorities legalize your house, for twenty votes. What are you all doing? The whole family goes to the urn,s so y'all finally have a house with papers. Things that in the countries of law are handled simply, in Albania are a reward for loyalty at the ballot box. I recently interviewed a girl whose family ran a marijuana farm in Lazarata a dozen years ago. She said that although "historically" they have always supported the Democratic Party, this year they will vote for the Socialist Party, because in exchange for votes, they were promised to regulate the law on an illegally built house.
5. The myth of the diaspora, whose votes could change the political situation in Albania, has busted - the diaspora that was allowed to vote abroad for the first time has massively supported the Socialist Party. In Tirana, I was told that each employee of the administration was to contact ten Albanians living abroad, and then each of them received a phone call from the Socialist Party asking who they would vote for. No other party had the resources to campaign abroad. "Diaspora comes to Albania for vacation, and besides that, watches mainly propaganda on Top Channel. They don't live here every day," friends commented.
6. But those, who live in Albania, on a daily basis, have massively supported Edi Rama. Either because they wanted to, or they had to. Those who didn't want to vote didn't go to vote - the turnout was only 42 percent. Those who had to vote went to vote for Eddie Rama.
7. This year, for the first time, Albanians had a wide choice among new political parties - right-wing Shqiperia Behet and Mundesia, and left-wing Levizja Bashke. And although more than 123 thousand votes were cast for new parties, it translated to only three mandates for independent parties. A long and difficult road lies ahead for the new parties to change everything in Albania. They will have to accomplish what now seems impossible: to destroy the foundations of a deeply corrupt system and mentality of Albanians, who are always willing to choose stable, fortified evil over uncertain new.
8. And today the leaders of European countries gather in Tirana. They will be congratulating Edie Rama on another victory. Edi Rama will talk about Albania's bright future and EU accession. The cocaine will be popping. Patrons will be gathering information. The television will show the smiling prime minister and European politicians, patting him on the back.
9. "Rama will rule Albania until death" - such voices I sometimes hear. Why so? Because he rewards loyal, corrupts opponents, confuses the opposition, ignores intellectuals, and above all, like no one knows, the mentality of Albanians. And in front of them, the statesman they need: a little arrogant sultan, a little meek Enver Hodja. He feels that Albanians don't need freedom or don't have the strength or will to rebel. They need a fairly safe, predictable life and - somewhere on the horizon - a beacon of the dream of joining the European Union.
10. I end this long post with a photo from Divjaka and an anecdote: on election day, while I was eating dinner at a local restaurant in Divjaka, a girl sitting next to the table picked up her phone and, after a short conversation, she cut the call with anger. As she explained to her parents, the patrons of the Socialist Party called her and asked her if she had voted yet.