The Salian Party

2025-12-21 10:36:00, Opinione Ardi Stefa

The Salian Party

I believe that Salianji wants to create a party.

It's a logical assumption. He doesn't take the podium or meet with Democrats to then be attacked, insulted, insulted, and intimidated by the SHQUP court. Especially when he knows very well that the speech about "democratization" and "reform" of the Democratic Party is a monologue doomed to failure.

Because Salianji knows well, even though he is speaking as a member of the Democratic Party and is demanding its democratization or reform, that no such thing will happen. The Democratic Party will neither be democratized nor reformed. Not even Berisha, who has a personal party, will back down so that the party becomes more open, stronger, more united or winning.

Berisha doesn't have a party to reform; he has property to administer. And the owner doesn't back down to make the property more open, stronger, or more profitable. The owner only backs down when the key is taken away.

Since I exclude the possibility that Salianji is preparing to enter the world of modeling, figure skating or entertainment, I think that the new party is his only option, as a means of pressure, as leverage, as gentle political blackmail with the naive hope of imposing himself to some extent on Berisha, and Berisha, to avoid a split, could give Salianji some high position in the DP, e.g. Secretary General instead of Flamur.

That's why I say that Salianji probably wants to create a party. That in these 35 years, all those who tried to take the party from Berisha failed. They ended up outside of it. Some politically. Some morally. Some historically. Some physically.

But if you want to have a new suit made, you don't go to the butcher, you go to the tailor.

Politics is a simple process that usually requires a subject and an audience. And Salianji is trying to appear as someone else but also as an extension of himself. And Salianji today is trying to be simultaneously different and the same.

Opposition to the DP, but a product of it. Rebel against Berisha, but raised in his court and entourage. I don't know if he will succeed, but it is not an easy task.

Of course, there is a very long distance between: "I want to create a party" and "The party I created." Chances are that even if Salianji creates a new party, it will fail. Many political stories in Albania end without ever being written.

This could be the end of the story. We don't know the beginning yet.
Until then?

First, some people need to form a political coalition with Saliani. And then they need supporters and voters to vote for him. It's no small feat.

By now we know that the entire effort is directed against the old DP. Not the DP of 1992, which was even bigger, nor the DP of 2021, which was actually the winner, but the DP of 2023 and 2025, which has shrunk and shrunk so much. Salianji is addressing a political space that resembles a bombed and hopeless country.

However, the opposition space lacks key personalities who can unite it and make it competitive.

However, it is far from certain whether Salianji and Alimehmeti can fill this void.

Secondly, Salianji needs to find allies. But even potential allies are not being pushed out the door to make any deal with him. If they are people like Lapaj, Shehaj, Qorri & Co, I don't see them having any great support in the electorate and they are so petty that they cannot produce policy and unite in a broad opposition front. They do not produce spirit. And above all, they do not produce mutual trust. They are too small to unite and too jealous to build something bigger than themselves.

Even if your most convincing and realistic argument is that without any initiative this space is being led into the abyss. "Unite so we can be saved" is a logical call.
As long as they want to be saved, of course. And as long as they can unite without gouging each other's eyes out.

Third, a political argument is needed. Why should we vote for you? “For Rama to go!” is a reasonable argument, but insufficient.

Why should we vote for you? “So that Rama leaves” is an understandable reason, but not sufficient. Rama does not leave willingly, nor with curses; he leaves with an alternative. And the alternative is not simply anti-Rama, but anti-model. So far, all anti-model efforts, despite the government's scandals, have failed.

Fourth, the 35-year history of pluralism in Albania has shown that anyone has the right to listen to the voice of duty and form a party, union, or mountaineering group. But the right to dare is no guarantee of success.

And no one can prejudge the outcome of their desire.

In the end, the result remains. Once again, I am very afraid that this attempt was not made without Berisha's "blessing". And if that is the case, then we are not dealing with reform, but with recycling. Not with cracks in the system, but with controlled ventilation.

History is full of idealists who thought they were saving the country.

But if I draw a parallel with an event from History, even if Saliani is serious about reforming the party, I am reminded of the case of Joan of Arc, who spoke to God and heard voices calling her to save France, but in the end she ended up on the pyre of wood, burning alive.

As all those who wanted to "shock" the Albanian establishment and weren't serious about it ended up...

History does not forgive semi-rebels, quasi-rebels.