Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

102
ed" DPA (who has still the respectable
number of 7 MPs), expressed his
reservation by resigning from his
function as an MP, observing that the
Albanians voted as they did due to
their "immense love of war." Maybe
the Albanians didn't vote for war, but
they sure did vote for its goals. As
Gezim Ostreni, head of DPA's electoral
headquarters, would state in one
of his interviews: "It's not DUI that
has won the elections, but their platform
regarding the battle of the
NLA." We have to look truth squarely
in the eye and say that PDP and
DPA entered the elections without
any significant trumps. Their poor
trumps were their previous mandates,
during which, according to the
Albanians themselves, they realized
very little, or almost nothing they had
promised. Unlike them, DUI enrolled
without many promises. The implementation
of the Ohrid Agreement is
already a completed task, resolved
amongst the four most relevant political
bodies so far, but the true tribute
for it goes to the NLA, and the NLA
belongs more to DUI.
The political mosaic regarding the
Albanians who participated in the
elections was simplified: the two
most powerful parties so far (DPA
and PDP ) took part and so did the
two new ones--DUI and Kastriot
Haxhirexha's NDP (National
Democratic Party). With the emergence
of DUI, there was no reason to
reactivate some of the minor parties
(the almost forgotten organizations of
Nevzat Halili and Xhemail Idrizi).
With the abolishment of the
Coordinating Council of the Albanian
political bodies, the chances of joint
participation according to some kind
of mutual formula that the leaders
would agree on, have also failed. Had
they done so, the number of Albanian
MPs would be much higher than 26
(one MP more than the maximum
achieved so far), which can be proven
by the forty thousand "burned" votes
of the defeated parties! With more
than 30 MPs, their presence in the
Parliament would have had symbolic
significance, showing that after the
Ohrid Agreement the Albanian factor
would have been strengthened in all
spheres.
Still, what is important for the
pre-electoral campaign is the fact that
DPA has understood its role, i.e., that
it is going to be DUI's main competition.
This party was the main reason
for the abolishment of the
Coordinating Council (due to the
attack on the restaurant Dora in April,
and to the lack of "distance" on the
part of PDP and NDP from the statements
made by some of their
activists). This is why DPA wrongly
assessed that their position would be
stronger should they take part in the
elections on their own, and that is
why they appeared alone. With
Menduh Thachi's statement that there
was never a word about any joint
appearance on the elections, DPA
opened the road towards an independent
pre-electoral battle. But that was
the moment when it determined its
meritorious opponent DUI, too. In
order to become a rival equivalent to
Ahmeti's party (formed in June 2002),
DPA included several ex NLA-commanders
in its ranks (Daut Rexhepi,
Ruzhdi Matoshi) which was supposed
to convince the Albanians that DPA
had greater credentials from combat
activities. On the other hand, despite
the signature of its leader, it moved
away from the Ohrid Agreement, saying
that that was not the end of
Albanian requests. As icing on the
cake came some even more radical
statements, deliberately placed in an
ambiguous context, like the one about
the dream of all Albanians - ethnic
Albania. Parallel to that, there was
direct criticism addressed to DUI for
their alleged lack of radicalism.
DUI didn't respond to DPA's
accusations. Its leaders right from the
start of the campaign have stated that
they won't deal with the opponents,
but with their political platform. They
didn't even have to explain their own
platform, because they are a party that
is made up of former NLA structures,
whose activities last year have
brought significant changes in the
position of Albanians in the legislative
system and the Constitution.
They didn't even react aggressively to
the hindrances (announcements for
detentions, barricades for Ali Ahmeti)
placed on them by the government,
and they even gave up their plan for
their leader to appear on the scheduled
pre-electoral meeting in the capital.
On the other hand, DUI and DPA
were the two extremes for the
announced incidents before and after
the elections. Luckily they were never
realized, neither in the Albanian nor
the Macedonian block of parties. The
incidents included the murder of the
policemen in Gostivar, Bogovinje, the
kidnapped Macedonians in Leshnica,
and the bombs in the Skopje headquarters
of DUI and NDP. Regardless
of the fact that some of the unfortunate
episodes seemed to be part of
some scenarios, they didn't succeed in
interrupting the election results.
Between DUI and DPA, it was unrealistic
to expect a better result for
PDP and NDP, who had based their
strategies on the motto, "Together
with DUI against DPA." When that
anti- DPA battle failed, because Ali
Ahmeti stated that he didn't want any
conjunctural coalitions, the disappointment
of the other two parties
was immense, because they had very
little time to recuperate. DUI had military
credentials, DPA had money and
a developed party structure. Even if
they wanted to they couldn't go
aggressively against DUI, while at the
same time DUI itself was quietly battling
against DPA. The money that
they had from the support of the NLA
was not sufficient for them to draw
greater number of supporters and, on
top of it, PDP was facing a defection
of their members to DUI.
According to this logic, DUI's
victory with 16 seats is a little bit
beyond expectations for the new
political map. DPA with its 7 MPs
escaped defeat, thus securing its political
future, provided Arben Xhaferi
stays as leader. PDP experienced the
biggest defeat, since it's too optimistic
to expect that it will heal soon
with its two MPs, no matter whether
they join the new government or not.
NDP's experience wasn't any better
considering the notorious opinion that
was created during the war that they
were a political wing of the NLA. The
only NDP MP won as a result of his
popularity during the war, not as a
result of his membership in this party.
Whether the established relationship
between the Albanian parties
will to be the same after four years
will greatly depend on how DUI will
carry out its obligations in relation to
the executive power. It will also
depend on whether they will repeat
the mistakes of PDP and DPA, whose
presence in the government so far
hasn't significantly changed the position
of Albanians.
(The author is a writer and a
commentator with "Flaka")
A new beginning, November 2002