Analyst Andi Bushati, appearing on “Të Paekspozuarit” on Vizion Plus, said PD still does not understand what has happened in Albanian society since the flamingo protests began. He said the idea of fielding a candidate such as Alimehmeti in Tirana shows how stale the party’s thinking has become.
Bushati said that if PD fields candidates from within its own ranks, it has no chance and risks fading away like the opposition parties in Hungary and Serbia.
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“I think PD is showing a profound misunderstanding. It has not grasped at all what has been happening in Albania over these six months. The name of a respected doctor, Alimehmeti, is put forward. And in PD’s stale mindset, it seems as though the party has done society a favor by opening up even to its own moderates. Today, even PD’s moderates appear unacceptable to a society that has moved beyond the old opposition through the flamingo revolution.
So, if PD is to move past the stale thinking it showed at the start of the flamingo revolution—when it said the protesters were Soros supporters trying to block the biggest investment in Albania, and that it supported genders rather than the protest—it should not open up to Dr. Alimehmeti. It should put forward figures from the protests. There are plenty of doctors and engineers among those who have led the protests and demonstrations. If PD cannot open itself up to the change society has brought about, it risks ending up like the opposition to Orban in Hungary or to Vuçiç in Serbia, which were completely wiped out.
Binaj has every right to run. I was not particularly enthusiastic about him when he ran, either, but I think that, in a situation that could come to a head by May 9, even Binaj could outperform PD’s candidate if PD remains shut inside its own tower.
I am not saying they should take someone from the protest, because these protests are not like the student plenums in Serbia. But if PD—and this is very difficult for it—makes someone who fits the profile of the protesters the face of its campaign, someone they see as one of their own rather than as part of the old establishment, that could bring about a change. That would require PD not to send someone who will obey Sali and Flamur tomorrow. Only if PD is ready to make that self-sacrifice can it have some measure of success. Otherwise, it will meet the same fate as the opposition parties in Serbia and Hungary. It must offer the citizens who stood with the protest someone they recognize as one of their own.
If PD says, ‘We will make that self-sacrifice and will not field a candidate with a party membership card; we will choose people from this revolution,’ only that can make it acceptable to citizens,” Bushati said.
