FLASH
Shkruar nga Roland Lami
In fact, it would probably be more honest for Albanian parties to openly say what the public and international partners have already understood: statutes in our country are rarely binding rules, they are more like ceremonial documents.
The recent debate in the Democratic Party about changes to the statute and the fate of the so-called “Basha article” seems like a familiar ritual of Albanian politics. Whenever the leadership is faced with an unpleasant limitation, discussion immediately opens to “improve” the statute. In public it is sold as an attempt to improve internal democracy; in practice it is often to regulate the leader’s relationship with the rules.
In 34 years of pluralism, Albanian parties have shown an admirable ability to change statutes and a lack of ability to respect them. The rules are solemnly written in congresses and assemblies, but as soon as they produce real consequences for the leaders, a new process of reflection begins, how the statute can be improved. At this point, the statute is treated more as a permanent draft than as a political contract.
Of course, every change is accompanied by a familiar public language, reform, modernization, internal democracy, more space for respecting different opinions or factions. These are the words that explain to the public and international partners that parties are updating the rules of the game. In reality, it is often about something simpler, the rules must adapt to the reality of the leader, not the other way around.
From a psychological perspective, this is also an interesting relationship of Albanian politics with the rule. The statute is accepted with enthusiasm when it limits others and is seen as a problem when it begins to limit the leader. At that moment, the need for interpretation, correction or change arises. It is a kind of institutional flexibility that our politics has developed with great dedication.
Therefore, the current debate in the DP is not so much about a specific article, but about an old habit of Albanian parties, that the rules are very important until they become annoying and threatening to the fate of the leader. When this happens, the solution is not to respect them, but to improve the statute. This is perhaps the moment when internal democracy appears in its most creative form.
In fact, it would probably be more honest for Albanian parties to openly say what the public and international partners have already understood: statutes in our country are rarely binding rules, they are more like ceremonial documents. They are often changed, announced with enthusiasm, but rarely respected.
Otherwise, it is difficult to understand how democratic institutions can be produced in governance when democracy itself does not function within parties. If rules are not taken seriously where politics begins – in parties – it is difficult to expect them to become serious when politics moves into government. It is precisely this mindset that explains why the debates on statutes in Albania seem more like a PR effort than a real attempt to build rules that apply to everyone.
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