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Albania’s Socialist Leader Eyes New Term
Tirana | 31 August 2009 | Besar Likmeta
Tirana mayor Edi Rama looks set to retain the leadership of the Socialist Party, following the movement’s extraordinary congress on Saturday.
The congress was called in the wake of the Socialists’ defeat in the June 28 parliamentary elections.
Although party members will not vote on the leadership until September 26, Rama appears to be in a dominant position following the withdrawal of his two primary contenders, former ministers Ben Blushi and Arben Malaj, from the race.
Rama’s only competitor will be Maqo Lakrori, a minor figure in the party, who few commentators believe poses a genuine threat to the Socialist party boss.
The June parliamentary poll defeat, which consigned the party to four more years in the opposition, has spawned rancour concerning Rama’s management of the election campaign and prompted criticism of his leadership style.
A Socialist party statute, which Rama himself had a role in creating, says the party leader must resign if he loses a parliamentary election.
Blushi, a former education minster, presented a resolution to the party’s leadership, which asked that the current leader drop out of the internal poll. He had fingered Rama as the main culprit for the election defeat.
However, Blushi’s resolution was not voted on in the party’s congress on Saturday and he did not seek inclusion in the leadership race. Malaj dropped out of the race on Monday.
The congress voted on a resolution, sponsored by Rama, which claims that the elections were stolen by Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s outgoing government.
“Naturally, after Arben Malaj dropped out, the race [for the leadership] of the Socialist Party does not make any sense,” says Dardan Malaj, political editor of the daily newspaper Shqip. “Maqo Lakrori, does not have the public stature to threaten Rama’s re-election as Socialist head,” he explains.
Malaj believes the contest has been far from fair, as Rama should have resigned the party leadership and not continued to retain this position, with all its influence, in the run up to the congress. Source: Balkaninsight
