Ulunyan Artyom Akopovich – Sc.D. in History, Principal Researcher, Institute of World History RAS
The article examines the 2013–2021 parliamentary electoral cycles in Albania and the nature of the Albanian party-political system, bearing in mind its strengthening during this period. It is pointed out that the presence of numerous small parties has a significant impact on the tactics of the two main competing political forces – the Socialist Party of Albania (SPA) and the Democratic Party of Albania (DPA), forced to enter into alliances with small parties. Another important feature of the electoral process in modern Albania is the high conflict potential of interpersonal relations in the political class. This was revealed in the course of each parliamentary election, and was noted in a cautious but unambiguous form by international observers. At the national level, this almost always led to conflicts between various political forces. Now the two leading figures in the political life of the country, namely the current Prime Minister and leader of the Socialist Party E. Rama and the leader of the opposition Democratic Party L. Basha, have found themselves in a difficult situation, because, having full power in their parties, they actually eliminated the possibility of holding intra-party reforms. Not allowing interparty discussions during the parliamentary elections, they ruled out any possibility of creating a more democratic atmosphere within their parties (which essentially turned into personal parties), despite the fact that such a situation was fraught with a weakening of the parties’ positions in society. At the same time, the position of the so-called «third force» – the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI), – has strengthened. Previously, the SMI often entered into tactical alliances with the SPA and the DPA, but in the elections in 2021 it acted as an independent pole of attraction for opponents of the two main political parties in Albania. The author pays special attention to the assessments of Albanian experts who analyzed the processes of the party political struggle in the country in 2013–2021, and the role of the emerging political class/elite in the formation of the party-political system of Albania.
Albania, parliament, elections, two-party system, political elite.
Download text