Enkelejd Alibeaj to lead Albanian Conservatives after Basha resigned

Tirana, 22 Mar The current vice-president of the Albanian Democratic Party (PD), Enkelejd Alibeaj, will provisionally lead the largest conservative opposition force, following the resignation yesterday of its leader, Lulzim Basha, because of the internal conflict that the formation has been going through for months. The fight hardened after Basha expelled the historic party leader, Sali Berisha, from the parliamentary group last September, after being declared persona non grata by the US State Department for corruption and for undermining democracy. After this act, Berisha declared open war on Basha and created a faction with the aim of regaining control of the party he founded in 1990. Last January, Berisha's supporters clashed with Basha's supporters as they tried to storm their party headquarters where the leader was meeting with the deputies who supported him. Basha led the PD for the past nine years, following Berisha's electoral defeat in the 2013 parliamentary elections. Now, he justified his resignation as party president “to assist in the resurrection and unity of the Democrats.” During the Berisha government, 2005-2013, Basha headed the Ministry of Transport, Foreign Affairs and the Interior, while in 2011 he was elected mayor of Tirana. Both the United States and the European Union have expressed their respect for Basha's resignation and advocated that the new leadership of the DP support the country's European integration and the fight against corruption. Previously, Washington had made it clear that it would not collaborate with Berisha if he took over the leadership of the DP. CHIEF md/ih/jac