Former Democrat MP Tritan Shehu has denied rumors spread by government-controlled media about a secret pact between Premier Edi Rama and Democratic Party chairman Lulzim Basha.

Media outlets close to the government claim about an eventual agreement which includes a new joint transitional government that will lead the country to snap elections next spring. Shehu, a member of the party executive bureau and a close collaborator of chairman Basha, strongly denied the “evil-minded mist”.

“One thing is certain: there is no agreement. It’s all an evil-minded mist, or ignorant at best”, Shehu said in an interview with the Albanian daily Shekulli.

“The goal of the Democratic Party is to put the free elections as the solution to the big problems the country has. This is where it must start, because the free vote has been lost in Albania, becoming the source of all the major problems, installation of autocracy, poverty, lack of hope and other things”.