The anti-government protest in Tirana has entered its 109th day, while former Socialist Party MP Petro Koçi commented on the developments during an interview on the "Minuta e Parë" show on News24 with Ola Bruko. Koçi said that at the start of the protest he had sympathy for the movement, but over time, according to him, it has taken a different direction and increasingly resembles the rhetoric of the Democratic Party.
He also questioned the claim that the protest aims to change the political class. According to him, there has been turnover and changes in Albanian politics, while the wing that, according to him, has changed the least is the DP.
Koçi also brought to attention the changes within the Socialist Party, mentioning the transition from Fatos Nano's leadership to that of Edi Rama. Speaking about Sali Berisha, the former socialist MP said that confronting him makes it easier, according to him, to call for elections. "He won the personal elections, but the DP lost them," declared Koçi.
He also criticized the language of ultimatums in politics, comparing it to the rhetoric used by Berisha in 1998. According to Koçi, the changes the country needs should be deeper and related to the Constitution, and not simply the departure of one government and the arrival of another. Koçi added that the 2008 constitutional changes were made in a certain political context, stating that Berisha undertook them in conditions when he had a limited number of deputies in the Assembly.
"I had sympathy for the protest at the beginning, but now it seems like a DP-ism movement to me. It's the same rhetoric of the DP. The claim to change the political class, for the left, does not hold up, since it has been completely circulated. It is only with the youth in general, the wing that has not changed much is the DP. Things have changed in the SP, because it was Fatos Nano, and now it is Rama. This is also Berisha's merit. Having Berisha in front of you, easily invites elections. He won the personal elections, but the DP lost them. The language of ultimatums does not work, like Berisha's ultimatum language in 98. There is a need for some fundamental changes related to the constitution and not for this one to leave and that one to come. For me, the constitutional changes of 2008 need to be changed. I have also asked the SP to review and restore the previous format. The republic must be clean, not prime ministerial. Berisha did it because he had few numbers in the Assembly," he said.
