Two National Assemblies are expected to happen on December 11 and 18, the later with a big if. Whatever the stream of the events, a big schism is currently taking place within the party.

By one side there is incumbent Chairman Lulzim Basha along with a small group of MP that wants to keep the status quo of the last eight years, a period in which they scored only electoral defeats. Facing them is the majority of the party base, united around former Chairman Sali Berisha’s movement baptized as Foltore, a talking tour across the country, which aims a re-foundation of the party and a return to the victories.

This is a short history of the Democratic Party.

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The Albanian Democratic Party (PD) was founded on December 11, 1990 by a group of Albanian students and intellectuals, including among them Azem Hajdari, Sali Berisha, Gramoz Pashko, Arben Imami, Aleksandër Meksi, Eduard Selami and others. The next day, on December 12, Azem Hajdari, a student, was elected Chairman of the Initiator Commission of the Democratic Party.

On February 13, 1991 the first active of PD took place, which elected a party executive of 19 members. The Initiator Commission was changed into the Steering Committee. The next day, Prof. Dr. Sali Berisha, a cardiologist doctor, was elected Chairman of the Democratic Party Steering Committee, followed by Aleksandër Meksi, Gramoz Pashko, and Azem Hajdari. Eduad Selami was elected Secretary General. The new body was tasked with leading the party until the first National Assembly, scheduled for the end of September 1991, where Sali Berisha, as the most popular figure, was elected Chairman of the Democratic Party, beating the candidatures of Neritan Ceka and Azem Hajdari.

Berisha led the party to its first victory on March 22, 1992, with 92 seats in the parliament, defeating the Socialist Party, formerly known as the Party of Labour (founded as the Communist Party in 1941) that won 38 seats.

Following the defeat of his party in the elections, Albanian President Ramiz Alia, Dictator Enver Hoxha’s successor, stepped down. The new parliament elected Sali Berisha as the new President of the Republic on April 9, 1992, with 96 votes pro and 35 against.

On April 10, President Berisha decreed Aleksandër Meksi as the Prime Minister of the first Democrat government. Pjetër Arbnori, a former dissident and political prisoner, was elected Speaker of the Parliament.

Berisha stepped down as the party chairman and Eduard Selami was elected as his successor on April 16, 1992. He was re-elected on the second National Assembly on December 4, 1993, with Tritan Shehu as Secretary General. Selami stayed at the helm of the party until March 1995.

In November 1994, PD lost its battle in the Referendum for the Constitution. The defeat created a division between Chairman Selami and the official party line. An extraordinary conference on March 5, 1995 discharged Selami.

On April 5, Tritan Shehu was elected chairman, leading the party until the loss of elections in 1997.

Meanwhile, President Berisha had promised to step down from his post should the party lose the elections following the unrest in the country. He kept his promise and resigned on July 31, 1997, only months after being elected for a second term as President.

The fourth Electoral Assembly elected Berisha as Chairman of the party on October 21, 1997. Berisha kept the post until the loss of the elections in June 2013. In the meantime, he led the party to the victory of elections on 2005, when he became Prime Minister and was reconfirmed with the victory of 2009.

Following Berisha’s resignation, Lulzim Basha was elected chairman, defeating Sokol Olldashi. Since then, Basha has kept the post despite scoring only defeats in general and local elections, enabling Socialist Premier Edi Rama to win an unprecedented three consecutive terms, the last on April 25, 2021.  

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In its 30 years, the first opposition party in Albania since the end of the World War 2 has had many ups and downs, internal fights and big divisions, but also big re-unions.

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The first faction was led by the late Gramoz Bashko, who only two years after PD’s foundation left and founded the Democratic Alliance.

In 1994, Abdi Baleta’s faction separated and founded Rimëkëmbja Kombëtare (National Revival). Petrit Kalakulla founded The Democratic Right.

In 1995, there was a great fight within the party, between supporters of President Berisha and the group led by party chairman Selami. However, Selami did not create another political party. He left the political scene to return only in 2013 and ran against Basha in the party elections in 2017.

After the 1997 unrest, Dashamir Shehi and Genc Ruli founded The United Right.

In 1999, Genc Pollo challenged Berisha in the party elections. He withdrew from the race in the last moments and founded the New Democracy Party, along with other Democratic Party MPs.

Dashamir Shehi joined them in 2001, but one year later left and founded the Renewed Democratic Party, which in 2004 changed its name in the Movement for National Development. The party still exists with that name and is an ally of the Democratic Party.

In 2009, Democrat MP founded Law and Justice, but his party failed pretty soon.

In the same year, another party was formed by former Democrat MPs, the Pole of Freedom, which ran in the elections with the Movement for National Development. It also failed soon.

In 2012, former Deputy Chairman of PD, Bamir Topi, founded the New Democratic Spirit.

Another Deputy Chairman, Astrit Patozi, left in 2019 and founded the Democratic Conviction.

Prior to the latest April 2021 elections, the Democrat MPs that did relinquish their mandates in February 2019 like the majority of the opposition MPs, Myslim Murrizi and Rudina Hajdari, the daughter of the late party founder Azem Hajdari, engaged in new political formations. Murrizi founded the Democratic Movement, whereas Hajdari joined the movement Nisma (Initiative).

Former Speaker of the Parliament Jozefina Topalli, which left after disagreements with Chairman Basha, participated in the last elections with her new party, the Movement for Change.

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After years of defeats, Berisha accused Basha of making the Democratic Party lose its sovereignty, also becoming a servant to Socialist Premier Rama. The party base asked for an extraordinary National Assembly, following Basha’s personal decision to suspend Berisha from the Democrat parliamentary group. Basha rejected their call, prompting Berisha to start his tour in the country and securing the signatures and support of the majority of Assembly delegates, as well as of the party base, for the convocation of the Assembly on December 11. Basha then announced the Assembly would gather on December 18, calling the Assembly of December 11 as unlawful and anti-American, saying it would put into question the decisions of the US government, referring to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s decision to bar Berisha and his family from entering the United States on the grounds of significant corruption. Berisha challenged Blinken to show proof and filed a complaint against him in the Correctional Court of Paris, France.

What will happen with the party that brought the political pluralism in the most dictatorial country in Europe?

Another schism or a big Renaissance?