– Gjon Bruçi –
In 34 years of pluralist rule, Albania has held a total of 11 elections for central government and just as many for local government. Of these 22 elections, only one — the one on March 31, 1991, for central government — was indisputable, as it had the most accurate and democratic parameters in the electoral field. However, the neo-fascist right wing of Sali Berisha, along with the godfather of American capitalism, Ryerson, could not accept the parameters established by the still-active Party of Labour. So they left no stone unturned until they overthrew the legitimate government and, after several months under a technical government, on March 22, 1992, the Democratic Party — with its blackshirts reminiscent of Hitler’s — came to power. This marked the beginning of the ordeal of elections, where the term “election” became synonymous with “theft.” The latter synonym rose to prominence and became not only a symbol of elections, but of the entire life and activity of the bourgeois regime — even penetrating the main arteries of Albanian society. In all these stolen elections, international observers from the OSCE/ODIHR and the EU have been present, and after each vote, they never fail to make a few marginal remarks, accompanied by verbal or written recommendations for improving future electoral legislation — always ending their reports with the well-worn phrase “Buono per l’Albania!” (“Good for Albania!”)
This “Buono per l’Albania” finally reached its peak in the May 11, 2025 elections, where vote theft and manipulation reached the highest possible standard — a level of fraud that no one could achieve except the ordinary and political mafia in Albania, “trained” by Western masters over these 34 endless years of capitalist transition.
It is universally known that the political system of a country cannot be changed through elections, no matter how free, fair or democratic they may be. Especially not in a country like Albania, where the current system is a hybrid one, which does not formally contain even the most basic elements of democracy. These statements need no scientific argument — everything is visible to the naked eye. As international institutions themselves say, Albania today, after 34 years of “bourgeois democracy,” in every field of social activity, ranks below the levels of the 1990s, when the country transitioned from socialism to capitalism. So this is a country that, in 34 years, has not only failed to progress, but has galloped backwards in every sector. It is enough to mention one figure — accepted by all, even state institutions, as well as the latest census and voter lists of the Central Election Commission: from approximately 4.2 million residents in 1990, by 2024 the number dropped to 3 million — half of whom are now in irreversible emigration from their homeland. And this halving, beyond economic issues, is also due to a complete lack of democracy.
But who caused this unheard-of calamity — the halving of our population? Without question, our political leaders of “blah-blah-cracy,” mainly engaged in two political parties — Democratic Party (PD) and Socialist Party (PS) — which have served the cause of anti-Albanianism. These profiteers, though they started with grand slogans of democracy and the philosophy of socialism and enlightenment, built a hybrid capitalist system that Albanians could never have imagined. The leaders of these parties — whom I rightly call “the lumpen of society” — took Albania in their grip, stripping and exploiting it, driving it to the darkest day in its history. The peak of this disgrace and plundering of the country, I believe, was reached on the eve of the May 11, 2025 elections. As a result of this situation, none of the political entities — whether old or new — were capable of drafting a rehabilitation program for the country to present to the voters. Instead, they focussed on three or four figures in the form of advertising slogans, which, accompanied by lies and other propaganda deceptions, filled the election campaign in question.
The PS, as the favourite for a fourth term, aside from two or three figures related to laughable salaries and pensions, also brought into play the promise of EU accession by 2030 — at which point, according to them, every Albanian would receive a European passport, with which they would also supposedly gain access to “Aladdin’s lamp.” On the other side, the DP, with the ageing Berisha, after inflating salary and pension figures on blank paper, announced plans for deep reforms — particularly in the justice sector, which, according to them, would land their Socialist “brothers” behind bars. These same Socialists, however, after every quarrel and brawl, share dinners with them in the resorts they’ve built together.
During the campaign, a glimmer of hope seemed to appear for citizens from several new parties with interesting names, such as Initiative, Opportunity, Together, Rightwards, etc. — all claiming that, in the May 11 elections, they would “break through the oligarchic political system.” However, the current political system cannot be broken through elections. In 1990, it didn’t come by way of votes — it came by deception, betrayal, violence and the burning and destruction of national wealth and even of citizens themselves. These methods can no longer be reused, as they are not accepted by the “bourgeois democracy” of today’s system. Thus, the slogan “we will break the system” from the new parties slid away like a trapped eel across the surface of campaign propaganda. This happened because these parties did not represent any class or social stratum in Albanian society — they were simply technical entities, participants in the “tender for power.” And just like over the past three and a half decades, that tender for power would once again be won by the two main parties — the PS and the DP — both of which have passed the “trial by fire” of this system. These two political parties are now like two sides of the same coin. Or rather — so as not to tarnish the word “coin” with the names of these degraded parties — let’s say they exist within the same rotation of the great wheel of the bourgeois system. From this standpoint, the term “transfer of power” can easily be replaced with the term “wheel rotation.” And since, between these two wheels, the DP’s is cracked and in pieces, the tender for power — or “rotation of the wheel” — was won for the fourth time by the PS.
Let’s be clear: the wheel itself is one of humanity’s greatest inventions — but the term “wheel” also carries a second, less flattering meaning. It’s common, for instance, that when we want to describe someone who isn’t quite right in the head, we use the expression “so-and-so is a wheel,” or say things like “they replaced one wheel with another,” and so on. Pity those who believe in this so-called “rotation” and in these “wheels”!
In conclusion, let us justify the title of this article — the main lesson we draw from the election-thefts of May 11, 2025:
The May 11, 2025 elections — just like all elections held under the bourgeois-capitalist system — clearly demonstrated that true change in the political system and in power does not lie in the hands of the vote or the sovereign people, who go and cast a ballot into the box. That vote, once in the box — and more importantly, before it even gets there — is watched over and “handled” by a representative of the system, not by a representative of the people. The political system holds all the tools to steal, divert and manipulate the citizen’s vote in favour of its own power. This has been proven in practice some twenty-two times over these three and a half decades, but on May 11, it was seen with the naked eye and clear minds by the majority of citizens.
And this isn’t something unique to our country. In all capitalist systems, political elections have long become a tattered facade of “democracy” without democracy — changing the facade, but never its deceitful core. The history of human society has shown that the sovereign people can become the true holders of power only when they take control of their own fate — acting as both voters and guardians of their vote. This can only be achieved under socialism and communism. True power of the sovereign people cannot be achieved through propaganda or prayers to angelic saviours, but through organization, determination, courage and direct confrontation with the exploiting classes created and protected by the capitalist system.
(Originally published in Gazeta SOT, June 2, 2025)