Why Berisha cannot be helped even by candidates forced to resign from elections

30 Mars 2023, 21:17Op-Ed Mero Baze

The sudden resignation of several Democratic Party candidates from running in the upcoming local elections, serve to show how Sali Berisha seeks to force his former party into submission and nothing else. They serve no purpose from a political perspective, since the Democratic Party itself holds two different positions regarding its mayoral candidates. On one hand, some Democrats want to have candidates running only for the city councils, whereas Enkelejd Alibeaj wants to have his mayoral candidates as well.

In order to avoid further division amidst the electoral campaign, the two groups in the Democratic Party have agreed to move forward with both options. Therefore, Sali Berisha does not gain anything politically by pressuring Democrat candidates to resign. The only thing that he gains is the fact that it will seem as if Enkelejd Alibeaj’s group has less support.

Furthermore, Berisha does not gain anything electorally either. Those who have distanced themselves from him and have made up their minds not to vote for Berisha will not have their opinion changed, despite the fact that they may or may not be represented by candidates for mayor in the local elections. These voters will either stay at home on the elections day, or will vote for the members of the city councils. Berisha cannot have their votes. While there is a great chance that he may win many votes from the leadership of the Democratic Party, he will never win the votes of opposition’s anti-Berishian electorate.

The anti-Berishian electorate has come up to this conclusion through an internal conviction and does not waver when faced with blackmail or bargains. The only thing that Berisha gains by pressuring Alibeaj’s candidates to resign, is the message that he is sending to Democrats, that he will either humiliate and force his opponents to surrender, or will gladly destroy everything. This is exactly what he has been doing from the moment when the first rapture appeared in the opposition.

In this case, he simply strengthens the idea that he is in charge of the opposition’s division as well as being responsible for refusing the Democratic Party’s offer to have mutual candidates in the local elections. This is all that this story serves for, not to help Berisha’s candidates in elections, but only to make him look that he still has power to blackmail or buy his opponents. We are all aware that he enjoys the power and money to force his opponents to surrender. However, he will never have the voters on his side. Hence, he is simply helping for the votes to go to his opponents, rather than the Democratic Party.

 

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