Students seek a political role after protest, from plans for a party to voting on names online

After the protest, several student groups have begun exploring different ways to organize and present political alternatives. Among the initiatives are Nationalist Youth, which aims to become a party, and the Student List, an online platform for proposing and voting on non-party figures.

Nationalist Youth has 300 members so far but has yet to choose a leader. Within the group is a core of 15 students who met during the protest.

Besart Capa, a member of Nationalist Youth, explained that the aim is to take the demand for a change to the system from the protest squares into a political movement. He said the group is not yet a party but wants to become one, show citizens the reality and demonstrate that it represents the true opposition.

Laura Kërtalla, a representative of the new group, recently met with EU officials in Albania. Describing the conversation, Capa said the meeting gave them an opportunity to introduce the officials to a new movement that has emerged in the country and seeks to carry political weight in the future. He added that the officials had suggested speeding up the steps toward forming a party, because it would be easier for them to work with a formal political organization.

Another initiative to emerge from the protest, the Student List, aims to identify figures outside political parties whom the country needs. Also known as LS, it was set up online by a technology professional who has chosen to remain anonymous. The digital platform allows people to propose names of public standing and lets Albanians vote on them through a verified Google account. More than 17,000 votes have been registered so far.

In an email response to a question about how the list of people voted for would be used, the initiative explained that the Student List was created to give citizens a space to propose people they value, show support for them and exchange ideas about the future. In the face of frequent claims that there are no good people or that the choice is always between the same individuals, the initiative aims to shift the discussion from dissatisfaction to concrete proposals. The response also stressed that this is not an official list of election candidates.

The Student List is being developed as a poll. Although the possibility of preparing for an election campaign has not been ruled out, it is clear that standing as a candidate is subject to rules requiring a separate process.