CEC deposes Berisha and registers DP for local elections under the representation of Alibeaj

The Central Election Commission today registered the Democratic Party under the representation of the delegated leader Enkelejd Alibeaj as competing in the local elections of May 14, overturning the request of the former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who claimed to be registered in the elections with the same subject name.

After listening for nearly two hours to the legal representatives, who defended the two requests with the same subject name, the election commissioner, Ilirian Celibashi, decided to accept the request submitted by Mr. Alibeaj, authorized as leader by the chairman of the Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha.

Commissioner Celibashi emphasized that the request submitted by Mr. Alibeaj meets the criteria and is based on the law on political parties and on the records of the Tirana court.

He left 48 hours to complete the details in the documents, which were noted as vague.

While the request of former Prime Minister Sali Berisha was dismissed, because it was not based on the law and there were no certification records from the court.

The legal representatives repeated before the Central Election Commission the same arguments that they have shown in their confrontations before the court of first instance and the Court of Appeal.

The appeal brought back the issue of representation of the Democratic Party for retrial at the first instance, overturning the previous decision, which recognized former Prime Minister Berisha as the leader of this party.

The Democratic Party has been plunged into a crisis of representation for some time, since its leader Lulzim Basha expelled former Prime Minister Sali Berisha from the parliamentary group, as soon as the latter was defined, together with his family, by the American Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, as suitable to visit the USA due to significant corruption and undermining of democracy.

Mr. Basha then declared that the Democratic Party would never keep in its ranks and forums persons declared non grata by the USA, strategic allies of it and Albania.

Former Prime Minister Berisha rejected the determination by the US as not based on evidence and started a movement to return to the head of the Democratic Party, attacking Mr. Basha as an associate of Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.

The conflict within the Democratic Party culminated in a massive violent attack a year ago by supporters of former Prime Minister Berisha on the party’s headquarters, which was stopped thanks to the intervention of the police.

Mr. Basha has delegated the leading functions of the party to the chairman of the parliamentary group Enkelejd Alibeaj, while the two parties have held congresses to own the representation of the party, documents which are now still in court.