Opposition protests: as support fails to materialize, organizers try to stoke tensions
For the 12th week in a row the opposition protested in front of the Municipality of Tirana demanding the resignation of the Mayor. There were speeches, Molotov cocktails and burning tires, and few protestors.
Why is this relevant
With the next general elections, set for spring 2025, already on the horizon, the opposition finds itself divided, unable to mobilize support and resorts to tactics that risk alienating citizens.
Context
11 years after losing power to the Socialist Party, the Albanian opposition is going through a very difficult moment. The Democratic Party is divided into two fractions embroiled in a bitter legal dispute about control of the party. The historic leader of the party, former President and two term Prime Minister Sali Berisha is under house arrest alongside his son in law accused of corruption during the privatisation of the huge and very lucrative terrain of a former sports complex in the center of Tirana that has been developed into apartment blocks by his son in law and his partners. He and his family have been declared non-grata by the US and UK for acts of corruption that undermine democracy.
To make matters worse, the opposition has been unable to come up with any serious and credible policy suggestions that would indicate to the electorate that they are serious about challenging the dominance of the Socialist Party that has already been in power for three record breaking terms and heads to the 2025 elections in a very strong position.
The arrest of several senior directors of the Municipality of Tirana seemed to finally offer an opening to the opposition. The Mayor is one of the highest level and most successful politicians of the ruling Socialist Party and although he has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing, he suddenly seemed vulnerable. However, after almost three months of regular protests, the opposition seems to have run out of steam. As the number of protestors has dwindled from a couple of hundred at the outset to several dozen over the past weeks, it has resorted to more violent protests, using pyrotechnics and provoking tensions, by way of compensation. One can almost smell popular support go up in smoke along with the fumes of the Molotov cocktails.
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