After the elections... Let the chips fall!

For Albania’s Democratic Party (DP), embracing "victimization" as a result of Sali Berisha's leadership is seen as a safer path than fostering false enthusiasm about his role as a supposed asset for victory. This false optimism not only ensures electoral failure but risks worsening the party’s position after the 2025 elections by unnecessarily raising expectations among undecided voters.

Acknowledging Berisha as the DP’s core problem could minimize the damage from the next elections. While the party would still lose, it could at least use the loss to push Berisha to step down from leadership. Voters would understand the reasons for defeat and recognize the urgency of moving forward without him.

So, what is happening instead? Berisha, sensing the danger, is desperately trying to spark false hopes among his followers—an effort most Albanians find laughable. To many, this charade has a single purpose: enabling the Democrats to pretend they are fighting until the May 2025 elections. Afterward, the excuses for their likely defeat will be ready, the same ones they’ve relied on for 34 years: “The elections were rigged; voters were threatened,” and so on.

The Democrats’ real concern is to avoid what must inevitably happen after the elections—Berisha being held accountable by voters and exiting politics for good. Instead, they aim to keep him as party leader, dragging the DP into further failures.

Consider the arguments they use to mislead their supporters. They claim that three resolutions in support of the DP have been adopted by international right-wing parties. Why only three? Such resolutions are routine gestures from ideological allies, often serving as symbolic acts rather than solutions to real problems.

Some journalists even frame these resolutions as triumphs for Berisha and defeats for Edi Rama. Imagine if the DP had Rama’s international standing—they might draft, publish, and circulate resolutions themselves, declaring them as major accomplishments. Moreover, they refer to a political faction that still considers Lulzim Basha a significant figure in the DP, even though he no longer holds any real influence. They do this simply to avoid openly acknowledging Berisha.

With empty resolutions, false hope, and ineffective strategies, the DP is heading into the 2025 elections while deceiving its supporters that everything is under control. When they inevitably lose, they will simply recycle old excuses. After the elections, they seem indifferent to what happens next, choosing instead to restart the same cycle until Berisha either steps aside or the Democratic Party ceases to exist.

The article initially appeared in Albanian titled: "Pas zgjedhjeve...qameti!"