Democratic Party Chairman Lulzim Basha rejected his predecessor Sali Berisha’s announcement of gathering 4200 signatures in the petition for the convocation of the Democrat National Assembly, saying Berisha is bluffing.

The former chairman started a talking tour across the country to meet the party base and appealed to the Assembly delegates to sign for the convocation of an extraordinary session at the wake of the latest developments. Berisha was suspended from the Democrat parliamentary group by Basha for the period of his legal battle with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

On Wednesday, Berisha announced 4200 delegates had signed for the convocation of the extraordinary Assembly, but Basha refused to believe it.

“Berisha has been Democratic Party chairman for a long time, he knows the Statute and party rules very well”, Basha said. “He knows how the Assembly mechanisms are set in motion. I am deeply disappointed by the mockery with the Democrats. If he really had gathered the signatures he would have consigned them already according to the Statute in order to commence the statutory procedures. But he didn’t do that, because everything was a bluff. What started as a battle for the democratization of the Democratic Party ended as a battle for his personal concerns”.

Basha also accused Berisha of plotting a putsch in the Democratic Party with Edi Rama’s regime.

“I have only one call and invitation for Berisha: Stop wasting the Democrats’ time and energies, stop helping Edi Rama! You did not have the signatures and that was shown yesterday. The Democrat leadership will do everything to restore the Albanians’ hope, including political action. Berisha is fighting a personal battle, not for the Democratic Party”, Basha said.