Edit Harxhi and Agron Shehaj, two Democratic Party (PD) members who ran for the party’s top leadership position, have denounced the manipulation of the party’s June 13 internal elections, accusing the current leader of tampering with the electoral process.
Harxhi accused the elected chairman, Lulzim Basha, of excluding about 28,000 PD members from the voting lists. According to Harxhi, membership lists had been purged of those members who had been critical of the incumbent leader. In 2017, the PD had 103,000 members compared to its current 75,000 members.
During a press conference following the certifications of the election results, Harxhi said that “a portion of those who voted cast their ballot without a membership card or without their names being on the list.”
She also mentioned that PD membership lists were not made available to candidates, but only to commissioners two days before the elections. In fact, Harxhi claimed that candidates were not allowed their own commissioners, but only random observers without any specific status.
“The ballot boxes didn’t have security seals. Democrats MPs and political parties leaders on several local branches called on their electorate to vote for the current PD leader Lulzim Basha,” Harxhi specified.
Agron Shehaj, who came in a distant second in the elections, made similar remarks on a Facebook post yesterday. He mentioned that many PD members had been denied the right to vote. He also denounced the violent expulsion of one of his commissioners from a Tirana voting center.
Four PD members ran on June 13 for the top leadership position of the PD, including Lulzim Basha who has been PD leader since 2013. Shehaj, Harxhi ,and Fatbard Kadilli all ran on platforms to reform the party, blaming the PD’s third electoral loss in a row on Basha and asking for his resignation.
41,000 of the 75,000 members of the Democratic Party voted on Sunday. Lulzim Basha received overwhelming support, gaining 81% of the votes. Agron Shehaj received 6,338 votes, followed by Edit Harxhi with 983 votes and Fatbardh Kadilli with 781.
