The chairman of the Opportunity in Albania party, Agron Shehaj, has said that the protest, as he called it, extraordinary, will end with the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama and early elections.
He expressed his conviction that Rama will be forced to resign and said that he said that polls show that over 70 percent of Albanians want Rama to resign.
“It may take a month, two months, three months, change does not come overnight, change takes work, it takes persistence”, Shehaj emphasized in an interview on the “Interaktiv” show on KTV.
According to him, the protest in Albania is a revolt against the entire political system and caste and not only against Rama.
“We are not dealing with simple protests, we are dealing with a popular revolt. Citizens, honest workers, intellectuals, middle class, small entrepreneurs are in the square every day because they not only want Edi Rama to leave, because they think that he has stolen from them because he is a corrupt prime minister, but they want the departure of this political caste, this is a shot against the whole system and not only against the prime minister”, said Shehaj.
However, he said that he does not believe that the conditions exist for a technical government independent of Rama in the period after Rama’s resignation and early elections, nor the possibility of free and fair elections.
“There will come a day when there will be elections, the early elections are the end of all that is happening, there may be a technical government between the resignation of Edi Rama and the early elections… In Albania, in these conditions, there cannot be free and fair elections, but what is the solution while we have a Parliament that is controlled by Edi Rama, if someone can tell me how, under these conditions, a technical government independent of Edi Rama can get the vote of confidence in the Parliament controlled by Rama, I would be happy. this is difficult to realize, unfortunately”, stated Shejaj.
On Thursday, the 26th protest in a row was held in Tirana. The revolt in Tirana started initially against the projects in Zvërnec and later focused on the demand for Rama’s resignation.
The main slogans carried by the protesters are “Rama resigns” and “Rama in prison, Berisha in prison”.
Rama has responded to the protesters with attacks, insults and labeling. He and his subordinates have continuously claimed that the protests are instigated by external factors, sometimes pointing the finger at Iran, sometimes at Greece and sometimes at Serbia.
Rama has said that Vetëvendosje is also involved in the protests that have received great coverage in the world’s media.
But the organizers of the protests, which are being held every evening from 19:00, have rarely dealt with Rama’s attacks and insults.
The five conditions of protestors
“1. The non-negotiable resignation of the Prime Minister and the government. 2. The creation of a transitional technical government, non-partisan, with a 12-month mandate. 3. Constitutional changes, where all Albanian citizens are equal before the law, as well as its approval by referendum, including among others: 4. In parallel, we request: Cancellation of the changes made to the law on ‘Protected Areas’; Cancellation of popular changes made in the law on ‘Cultural Heritage’; Repeal of the legal package known as the “Mountain Package”; Repeal of the status and legal framework for ‘Strategic Investments’ and 5. The new social contract between citizens and the state will be drawn up after consultation with intellectuals, technical experts and non-partisan citizens”.
