Race for Tirana mayor gets more crowded as two protest movement leaders join
Story Highlights
- The two entrants are Arlind Qorri, leader of a radical university university protest movement, and Endri Shabani, of Nisma Thurje, a centrist anti-establishment political party.
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TIRANA, March 1, 2023 - The number of candidates who have officially announced they intend to run for Tirana chief executive grew again this week, as leaders of two protest movements said they intend to run for mayor.
The two entrants are Arlind Qorri of the Bashke Movement, an offspring of the radical left university protest movement, and Endri Shabani, of Nisma Thurje, a centrist anti-establishment political movement. They join Lajla Pernaska, a civil society activist and former MP of the main opposition Democratic Party, who says she will run as an independent.
Historical trends and recent opinion polls indicate the main race will be between Socialist Party two-term incumbent Erion Veliaj and Belind Kellici, a Democratic Party MP that has support of the largest opposition groupings.
Third party and independent candidates have previously primarily served to draw votes away from one of the main parties’ candidates, election experts note, but the number and quality of the candidates is a novelty.
A divided Democratic Party is still concerned with a court case that will determine if the faction supporting Kellici -- which represents the majority of party membership and effectively controls the party -- will be able to run under the party logo.
It is unknown whether the minority faction challenging the current leadership, led by Enkelejd Alibeaj, will run its own candidates in the mayoral elections, a move that could irreparably harm the opposition’s chances of picking up any mayoral gains.
Local elections this year are a return to democracy, as an opposition boycott of the elections four years ago led to a voting process that saw the lowest turnout ever and many no-contest races.
The June 30, 2019 elections created an unprecedented situation due to the opposition’s demands in order to participate, and President Ilir Meta canceled the elections and set another date so the opposition could participate.
Electoral authorities and the Albanian government of Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama, backed by the international community held the elections on the set date, resulting in the ruling Socialist Party winning all but one of the country’s 61 municipal mayoral seats.
The Constitutional Court took on several challenges about the validity of the elections, but ultimately it decided it didn’t have the authority to cancel the elections, based on the recommendation of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission
