Albanian Opposition Protest For Fair Elections

Albanian Opposition In Open Ended Protest In The Name Of Free And Fair Elections

Tirana, Albania (MMD Newswire) April 30, 2010 -- Today the Albanian opposition held the largest protest ever organized during the post-Communist transition of Albania. In excess of 200,000 people heeded the call of the Socialist led opposition and came out in the streets of Tirana demanding full and thorough transparency of the elections of June 2009.

The leader of the Socialist Party Edi Rama addressed the protesters and thanked them for their overwhelming support. He declared that Albania finds itself at a crossroads and that the opposition is determined to persist in its resistance.

" Today you came to this boulevard of the Martyrs of the Nation in countless numbers, in order to show through the power of our European aspirations that we refuse to accept as a fait accompli this undeclared kingdom we live in, this government that is destroying Albania, paralyzing its democracy, abasing its justice system, ruining its economy. Today we have gathered in order to open a new page in the book of our protests, which will consist of limitless sacrifices until the moment when the road to the transparency of the last elections is cleared and the path to manipulation of the elections is sealed once and for all.

Open the ballot boxes, not so that the people understand that you have stolen their votes. Albanians understood this at the very moment when you decided to seal the ballot boxes by force because of your terror that the votes you robbed would come to light for all to see.

Open the ballot boxes in order to get rid of the corrupt weapon you used to kill the last elections, so that the future elections do not fall prey to the same weapon.

This is our compromise:

We do not want you to hand over power to us. We just want that you hand over to the people the weapon to which you owe your stay in power.

Brothers and sisters let us resists in this boulevard of the Martyrs of the Nation and everywhere else, all over Albania, each according to his or her means, until the ballot boxes are opened, so that we can save our democracy and our future by saving the fate of the elections from the claws of the government.

This is a difficult battle in the name of great aspirations but we shall be ready to face this battle no matter how high the sacrifices."

A few hours after the beginning of the protest Socialist MP Fatmir Xhafaj declared that the Socialist Parliamentary group and a large group of supporters had decided to go on a hunger strike until the demand for full transparency is met. 22 Socialist MPs and 180 supporters have joined in a camp build in front of the Prime Minister's office, in Tirana's Martyrs of the Nation boulevard. Below is an excerpt from Xhafaj's speech.

"Today the Albanian people bore witness to the greatest manifestation ever held in Albania in the last 20 years. It was a humbling manifestation, in which more than 200,000 Albanians protested in the name of a fundamental principle of any democracy: the transparency of the votes! Not so that we can change the outcome of the elections of June 28th but so that we can have a guarantee that the next elections the will of the people will be respected and every vote will be counted fairly.

The resistance will take place here, where we stand, and not one of us is going to walk away from here unless our legitimate demand for the opening of the ballot boxes and the achievement of the transparency of the elections are fulfilled.

We will stay here day and night, in the sun and in the rain, peacefully resisting in the name of a cause supported by the whole people. We will resist to the end in front of any difficulty, including the lack of food, for as long as necessary.

Our demand is simple and clear: Open the ballot boxes in order to achieve the transparency of the elections of June 28th. In the name of this demand, which is moral, legal and constitutional, there will be no hesitation, but only peaceful resistance."

ENDS

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