The unification of the opposition's anti-American front

Starting his electoral campaign with attacks against the United Sates, which are turning into the opposition’s political identity, Sali Berisha seems to have achieved his first success. He has managed to silence all his coalition partners as well as other opposition parties that are close to his ideology.

Apart from the public attacks against the US Ambassador from Berisha’s supporters, none of his coalition partners have spoken up against him. Evi Kokalari, the woman who inspired his conservative campaign and whom Berisha used in order to lie at Albanian Democrats during his crisis with Lulzim Basha, is the only one who has distanced herself, while warning about the consequences that loom over the Democratic Party. The rest of the opposition seems to have accepted in silence Berisha’s battle against the US.

Ilir Meta, Berisha’s main partner, is naturally content with the recent attacks against the US Ambassador. He was himself in the frontline of attacks against the United States during the April 2021 elections. Therefore, Berisha’s recent attacks and his party’s alignment against the US only ease Meta’s position. Apart from being happy regarding the actions of his coalition partner, he is also happy that there are no objections within the alliance about the attacks against the US.

It is interesting to notice how none of Berisha’s candidates in the upcoming local elections have spoken against the attacks against the US Ambassador. In other words, they consider their leader’s accusations regarding the alleged corruption of the US Ambassador as real. Now, when I say candidates, I do not mean the ones running in smaller municipalities, but rather the ones competing for the country’s largest municipalities, like that of Tirana, Shkodra and Durres where Berisha expects to win. It seems that the political bios of Belind Kellici, Igli Cara, Luciano Boci and Bardh Spahia shall also include that they represented an anti-American campaign in Albania.

Other opposition parties related to Sali Berisha, even though not officially part of his coalition, also remain silent. They are not concerned by the fact that Berisha is seeking to permanently divide those who want to be his allies from those who want to be allies of the United States.

In this aspect, Berisha has succeeded in unifying the entire opposition group in his anti-American front. While this will not help win the elections, it will at least allow him to be the leader of this front, which is his real goal at the end of the day. Everyone is competing for power in the upcoming local elections. Sali Berisha is the only one competing for the monopoly over the opposition.