Members of the Democratic Party (PD) of Albania have warned they will hold a protest to reclaim the party and its headquarters from current leader Lulzim Basha on January 8.
Former Prime Minister and PD leader Sali Berisha had given a similar warning last week, calling for Basha and current party leadership to vacate party headquarters in Tirana by January 5 since they had been voted out.
PD Member Flamur Noka and other members of a provisional committee turned up at the party’s headquarters but were not allowed in as Basha held a meeting with party leadership inside.
“On the 8th, the Democrats will once again return the PD headquarters to the house of freedom,” Noka said.
Two factions of the PD have been at odds since September last year, following Berisha’s exclusion from the party’s parliamentary group over its designation for corruption by the United States Department of State.
Berisha retaliated by going on a national tour to rally his supporters and initiated a meeting of the Party’s national assembly, its highest decision-making body, on December 11.
4,400 of the organ’s 7,600 members voted to oust current party leadership, including Basha, and annul Berisha’s expulsion.
On December 18, Basha held an opposing meeting of the party’s national assembly, annulling the decisions taken by the December 11 convention and voting to bar all designated people from executive positions.
On the same day, 43,385 members of the Democratic Party voted to oust Basha, in a party-wide referendum, representing a 98,8% of the members that turned out to vote.
