Berisha's campaign for the North even when he is visiting Southern Albania

Sali Berisha appears almost annoyed during his electoral meetings in Southern Albania and he is not to be blamed. Apart from the cultural differences, he is also annoyed by the lack of political support. His recent meetings in Gjirokastra were the most obvious reflection of such an annoyance.

If one was to look at pictures of Berisha’s electoral meetings in several municipalities in Southern Albania, it would be impossible to distinguish them from one another. Every picture shows the same people that he drags around in every city, filling up the first two rows, followed by thirty locals.

However, apart from the lack of people, Berisha’s annoyance becomes even more obvious by the fact that he has nothing to say to them. He confuses the names of the candidates as well as the names of the localities that he is visiting, simply because he is uninformed. Personally, what caught my attention was that during his meetings in four cities in Southern Albania, Berisha spoke about Hasi and Shkodra. During his electoral meeting in Permet, Berisha attacked the Hasi’s representative so much, that it seemed as if he was going to run for mayor in Permet.

Now, apart from his old age, the only explanation for Berisha’s confusion is that he has no hopes of winning in Southern Albania. Therefore, despite the city that he is visiting, he continues to campaign for the municipalities of Northern Albania, taking advantage of media’s attention. He is not that wrong in his thinking. If he wins most of the municipalities of Northern Albania, it would be quite a success for him. However, it is hard to understand why he must make his hopelessness to win in the South so obvious. It would be enough to think that Tritan Shehu is there to guarantee Berisha’s electoral failure in Southern Albania.