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Albanian businessman Artur Shehu spoke on the Opinion show...

The degradation of democracy in the country, a breeding ground for crime

2025-11-18 11:41:00, Opinione Ekrem Spahiu

We are experiencing a total degradation of the political situation and, with it, of the security of
citizens' lives. We have reason to believe that the country is in a state of alarm.
Political developments speak of an ever-increasing asphyxiation of
Albanians' interest and participation in parliamentary and local elections, precisely where the foundation of the
democratic state begins. Meanwhile, the derivatives of this political situation, state corruption,
organized and ordinary crime, are becoming lords within the institutions and critical facilities of the state.

About a month ago, Judge Astrit Kalaja was murdered, with a gun, inside the courtroom of the Court of
Appeal in Tirana, a very sensitive court, in broad daylight and inside the institution. In those
days, I raised with concern the issue that, when there is no security for one of the main pillars of the state,
such as the court, then what is the security of the other pillars of the state?

It did not take long for crime, even organized crime, to take on the most aggressive forms
possible in these very days, completely disrupting the entire public security system.
The mafia murder was committed in the inner roundabout of the “Mother
Teresa” International Airport in Rinas, practically within the most strategic object of
Albania’s contact and relations with the world. It is a unique object in the country, which is normally
supposed to be the safest, for which all institutions and structures of
national security and defense either have their share and responsibility, or are vulnerable to
such risks and threats.

However, organized crime entered and stayed there as if at home, killed, burned and left
in an unknown direction, without any concern. When the Albanian citizen, no matter how militant the
government, learns that the driver of the vehicle was an agent of the Police Supervision Agency, then
he has the right to doubt: Do we have a state? Do we have a state police? Do we have a state intelligence service?
Do we have ...?

Nothing is born on infertile ground. And the ground, fertile or not, is prepared more than
anyone by politics.
Politically, we had warned several times that the electoral reforms in our country have been and
continue to be made to feed the political bargains of the two main parties where, instead of the fate of the elections in Albania being decided by the voter, in fact, the appetites, preferences and bargains of politicians through electoral systems and closed lists
decide them . I have considered these a serious blow against democracy, which paves the way for other blows. It was not long before in the partial elections that were held these days in five municipalities of the country, the participation was 18.45%! It was the lowest quota of participation in the elections in these 35 years of a democratic state. With this threshold of voters, it can practically be said that this vote was completely a farce, both for the position and for the opposition.

But the point is that in a year and a half, the country will be in local elections again.
The compromise we saw in these partial elections will surely become a trend in
the elections that we expect to take place throughout the country.

Therefore, it is time to save the country from further degradation and compromise, both
politically and in terms of public security. Crime, coexisting with segments of politics
and law enforcement institutions, constitutes the main anxiety of Albanian society. Meanwhile,
the abandonment of elections by citizens directly encourages the criminalization of segments of
the state and society, because the fate of the country remains within the vicious circle: politics-crime!