It is not the first time that Edi Rama and Ilir Meta roll up their sleeves and declare an open war to one another. There are even those who say that it won’t be their last time in the political battlefield, which is actually in the culminating point of the electoral campaign dominated by the news of the administrative layoffs mainly of those hired by LSI.
This made-up attack of the post Rama–Basha agreement seems to be motivated strongly by the president-elect, who, even though had promised not to be involved, has appeared the past two days in electoral rallies, where he hasn’t spared insults for his former ally Rama and his opponent Basha.
The exchanges at a distance between the two leaders that are officially still part of the same governing coalition, have finally undone what was long ago discussed as the great separation between PS and LSI. The war was triggered mainly after the prime minister, who is still in government with Ilir Meta’s ministers, not only “blessed” the ongoing layoffs of the LSI administration, but also rushed to label Ilir Meta’s people and his ally of the past four years as the worst of the worst, complaining about the misfortune that has disoriented his government for the past 4 years.
“A part of politics that has fed parasitism, clientelism, and laziness”, “blackmailers that forced us to fire the Socialist Party’s women,” and the latest highpoint was yesterday in Vlora “this is a history of hostage taking” – these are the latest theses of the past several days, with which Edi Rama is striving to convince the left-wing electorate that the fault for everything that might have gone wrong these past 4 years belongs to the LSI. And with this motive he seeks to win 71 deputies in order to calmly govern in his following mandate.
But are there any normal people who would believe what Edi Rama is claiming? In other words, can a leader who claims to have been held hostage for the past 4 years be trusted? If this has really taken place, then Albanians need to believe that Edi Rama has been a hostage of LSI and has accepted that fact for the sole purpose of keeping his place in power. If he has accepted that socialist women be fired from their jobs, he has done so to get the LSI’s consent for concessions, privatizations, and all other rulings that have marked the failures of the past government.
Edi Rama cannot forgo the analysis of this government by blaming LSI or with his offensive remarks during electoral rallies that resemble the tasteless humor of a well-directed spectacle. A prime minister that is preparing for his second mandate cannot blame the young brother that he has spilled the milk, while the rest of the food has been stolen or sold to the clients of the head of the family.
Because, as his duty obliges him, he has to hold responsibility when things aren’t going well and he shouldn’t hide behind the agreement with his opponent, with whom he playing on the same field. For the weeks left for Edi Rama he has to convince his socialists that if he’ll get a chance for a second mandate as prime minister he will no longer be a hostage of the agreement that he still has with the LSI or another agreement that he didn’t make public. And how credible that is remains to be seen, at a time that his desire for the seat is so strong that for the first time in his life Rama hasn’t blamed Berisha in a long time.
