A new chapter has opened. The Democratic Party has overcome one of the most difficult periods in its history. We faced an extraordinary and unprecedented attack, which aimed not only to weaken the Democratic Party, but essentially to strike at political pluralism in Albania.

The Democrats stood. They stood when everything seemed against them. They resisted, they survived, they reunited, and they showed that a party is not kept alive by its structures alone, but by the people who believe in it. The re-establishment was one of the most impressive exercises in the will of the membership, in the return to conservative values, in the establishment of meritocracy, and in the defense of pluralism. It was an inspiring process that saved the largest party of the right from annihilation.

But survival is no longer enough. Now we move from resistance to organization, from survival to strengthening and from reacting to the opponent to building our own strategy. Throughout this summer, a working group led by the chairman of the DP Berisha has built a strategy that combines a repositioning of the role of the member, strengthening the role and action of the section, the work of the structures in every cell, the modernization, the digitalization of the Party.

We don't just have a political party facing us. We have a vast power machinery that combines state administration, patronage, propaganda, pressure, state resources, and criminal interests.

Such a machine cannot be confronted by standing on the defensive alone, nor by denunciations alone, nor by individual figures or actions alone. It must be confronted with organization.

The new strategy will mobilize the Democratic Party in every cell of it. Every member must feel part of an organization that communicates with them, informs them, listens to them, and gives them a concrete role.

Technology today gives us the opportunity for information not to remain at the top of the pyramid, but to flow down in real time to each member. The member will learn the information, explanation and political stance of the party in real time, from the party itself and not from the opponent. Political stances, arguments, denunciations, objectives and tasks must circulate quickly and in both directions. Communication must be capillary.

But with information must come responsibility. Every member must know what their role is. Every structure must know what their objective is. Every official must know what is expected of them. And work must and will be measured to recognize everyone's merit and responsibilities.

The member will not be just a receiver of information or a doer of tasks; he must become a source of initiative, information and political action from the bottom up. Each of us will have to start from ourselves, without dealing with the other, but focusing on what each of us can do and the added value we bring.

Renewal is not a change of name. It is a new way of acting based on our principles. We will show that we know how to govern Albania, by governing ourselves.

This is a further step towards building meritocracy, accountability and healthy competition. Those who work should be recognized. Those who take responsibility should be valued. Political office cannot be just a title, but should be linked to results.

Even electoral objectives must be treated differently. Not with general analyses and spur-of-the-moment reactions, but with surgical work: zone by zone, polling station by polling station, category by category, problem by problem.

We need to know where we are strong, where we are weak, who we need to convince, what concerns citizens have and who is responsible for each objective. Citizens need to know that they are not alone, the field is not empty. Faced with the pressure of patronage, they have the support of every member of the DP.

This strategy aims for capillarity, for the mobilization of everyone in every structure of the DP, with clear, shared responsibilities, with accountability and with meritocracy at the center.

The goal is not for the Democratic Party to talk more to itself, but for every cell of it to become a bridge with society, with the citizen who today feels unprotected, unrepresented, or surrendered.

This requires the combination of three forces: field work with clear and achievable objectives, the strength of the central and local team, and the political alternative.

The terrain without an alternative produces only mobilization. The alternative without the terrain remains on paper. Individuals without a team that inspires trust and hope cannot withstand a system. When all three come together, the party turns into an organism that thinks, communicates and acts simultaneously throughout the territory.

The Democrats have passed the test of endurance. They have shown that they cannot be wiped out by pressure, nor disintegrated by propaganda, nor artificially replaced.

Now comes another test: to transform this resistance into an organized political force. From a party that survived the blow, to a party that takes the initiative. From a party that reacts to the machinery of power, to a party that builds its own democratic machinery of organization, communication and alternative. From thousands of democrats who have stood for years, to thousands of democrats who know exactly their role in the change that must come. This is how we transform into a true machine, where each element has a duty and a responsibility, and acts in harmony with the other elements. We can only do this together.

In the end, organizing is not an end in itself. We organize to confront this authoritarian dictatorship more forcefully, to give Albanians a credible alternative government, a team and a project that inspires confidence that Albania can be different. And we will do it differently together.

This is the new chapter. The Democratic Party is strong, united, with renewed and strong relations with our international partners and open to anyone who will join in a front to overthrow this regime, eradicate this oligarchic and clientelistic system, and build a Republic of Dignity. We are starting the change, the strengthening and the renewal from ourselves, to then take it to every cell of society.

*Vice President of the Democratic Party