A lonely Berisha at Democratic Party HQ continues to fight ‘stolen’ election

While the entire Albanian political class seems to have headed for their summer break, Sali Berisha, chairman of the Democratic Party, refuses to abandon his party’s Tirana headquarters, repeatedly holding press conferences in which he denounces the May 11 parliamentary vote as stolen and calling it an electoral massacre rather than a fair contest.

Why is this important: Berisha’s refusal to take a break stems from a personal struggle over party rules. The Democratic Party statute mandates the leader’s resignation if the party loses parliamentary elections. By protesting daily, Berisha aims to block any move to invoke that rule.

Context: Although the preliminary ODIHR report and EU statements acknowledged several sporadic procedural shortcomings, they affirmed the May 11 results. Full recounts in major districts uncovered only human counting errors, with no alteration of outcomes—and in some areas the recount revealed that Berisha’s party had in fact benefited from unmerited ballots.

A joint Special Prosecutor’s unit, the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Central Election Commission investigated election-day offenses and vote-buying allegations. Aside from a few isolated incidents, no senior politicians or candidates were charged.

Among other things, Berisha insists on accusing the government of deploying half a billion euros of public funds to influence voters and criticizes staging the Giro d’Italia in Albania just before the vote as giving the government an unfair advantage.

Next steps: With the party statute still hanging over his leadership, it is expected that Berisha will continue his daily sit-in until any attempt to enforce the resignation clause is formally dropped. Observers say the Democratic Party faces a critical test of internal unity and procedural legitimacy as autumn approaches.