FLASH NEWS
Albania votes under Trump's shadow
2025-05-09 12:09:41 / EDITORIAL
Fierce political rhetoric, blurred boundaries between politics and entertainment, dark interests: the upcoming political elections in Albania feature many elements of Donald Trump's America.
If you had closed your eyes and listened to the tone and content of the political rhetoric dominating the airwaves in Albania ahead of this week’s election, you might have sworn you heard Donald Trump. Both leading candidates reflect many of his characteristic traits: a populist bent, a disdain for checks and balances, and emotionally charged and polarizing messages that blur the line between leadership and spectacle.
Albanians go to the polls on May 11 for parliamentary elections and, as so often before, the vote focuses on personalities rather than policies, on individuals over institutions, and on rulers rather than leaders.
Leading the polls and expected to win is current Prime Minister and Socialist Party leader Edi Rama, who would secure an unprecedented fourth term. He is already Albania's second-longest-serving post-war leader after Enver Hoxha - another victory would give him sixteen years in power.
And power is what it is. Art, clothing, and linguistic style reinforce the image of a modern and enlightened democracy, but Albanians and diplomats based in Albania know that few, if any, important decisions in the country do not fall into their hands.
Rama's mandate has been marked by deep-rooted corruption sprouting in the form of high-rise buildings, casting a shadow over the country's EU aspirations.
Media and other reports have consistently drawn links between Albania's political establishment and organized crime networks involved in drug trafficking and money laundering. An April 2025 study by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime highlighted the role of the Albanian mafia in the global cocaine trade, particularly through the port of Durrës, enabled by corruption within Albania's political, law enforcement, and judicial institutions.
Rama’s connections to these activities remain unclear, but over the course of twelve years, he has blurred the lines between the state, the ruling party, and himself. His omnipresent presence in Albanian media and public life reinforces the perception of a personal grip on power.
Albanians would refuse to tolerate this and would surely vote Rama out of power if they had a viable alternative. Unfortunately, Albania’s curse is the lack of a person or other force to rule with the public interest in mind. Rama is slipping because the opposition is divided and despised.
At the head of the main opposition Democratic Party is Sali Berisha. Yes, that Sali Berisha – the former Communist Party member and Politburo doctor who served as the first post-communist president in 1992 and was toppled with the collapse of massive pyramid schemes in 1997 that his government encouraged and allowed. He survived that catastrophe and returned as prime minister for two terms (2005-2013), when his corruption and ruthless authoritarianism opened the door for Rama to take over.
Recent events in Washington, namely the rise of MAGA and Trump, have given Berisha a third lease on life. He is now trying to “Make Albania Great Again” and is paying handsomely to do so. As a campaign advisor, he hired Chris LaCivita, who helped run Trump’s last presidential campaign, and the party has engaged Florida-based lobbying firm Continental Strategies for six million dollars over two years.
The Berisha-LaCivita narrative is clear: true-blooded right-wing forces against the leftist Rama, supported by Soros, who, just as Biden did with Trump, tried to eliminate Berisha with sham trials and politicized courts.
Beyond the elections, another goal is of course to remove Berisha and his family from the US blacklist, where he was placed in 2021 due to "significant corruption." Photos of Berisha at Mar-a-Lago may be coming soon.
But not so quickly, Rama says, as he has worked with Trump before and welcomed his return to power. Most importantly — and in the mercantilist language that Trump understands best — Rama offered the island of Sazan at the junction of the Adriatic and Ionian seas to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to develop as a luxury resort.
The details of the offer remain unclear, but as both sides vie for Trump's favor, Rama could find himself under pressure to make the best deal. Perhaps Kuçova — known as Stalin's City during Albania's communist era — could be renamed again. In today's geopolitical theater, "Trump City" is not impossible.
Meanwhile, Albanians are trapped between the old guard strongman they pushed out of the game and the refined and media-savvy one they now have./ Translated by Alfapress.al
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