In an improbable effort to defend the undefendable, Democratic Party Chairman Lulzim Basha accused the United States of deliberately tolerating the violation of the June 5, 2020 agreement – and consequently the elections rigging – by Premier Edi Rama.

Finding himself in a difficult position to justify the suspension of former Democrat chairman Sali Berisha from the parliamentary group, Basha was forced to make several pirouettes during the Open TV show on Top Channel. Journalist Enton Abilekaj reminded Basha that Rama had checkmated him with every agreement he had violated, including the last one, of June 5, 2020.

Basha responded by blaming the United States, which seems to be the only ally remained to him.

He said US Ambassador Yuri Kim, who was a guarantor of the agreement on the Electoral Code, changed from arbiter to an ally of the regime, because her country had no guarantees that Basha and the Democratic Party would be able to keep Berisha under control.

“June 5 Agreement was guaranteed by three high international representatives. It was violated unilaterally. We can talk about the reasons here. It happened because the Democratic Party and Basha could not offer enough guarantees for the control of the past accounts. For that reason Rama was allowed to violate June 5 agreement. Who allowed him, who else?” Basha said, hinting at the arbiter role of the United States in the Albanian elections.

After the agreement was reached on June 5, 2020, Ambassador Kim and then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo welcomed it. However, when Rama and the “new” opposition modified the Constitution, unlike the Europeans, the US Ambassador remained silent.

The shameful silence, that is the clearest evidence of support for Rama’s regime, was justified by Basha with the supposition that the United States took Rama’s side because Basha did not give guarantees he was able to keep Berisha under leash.