Sali Berisha was expelled from the Democratic parliamentary group

The first session of the new parliament, which emerged from the April 25th elections, is meeting in Albania today.

A few hours before this event, which marks the return of the opposition to the House of Representatives, after two years of its departure from the upper legislature protesting against the Rama government, the leader of the Democratic Party, the largest in the opposition, Lioulezim Basia, announced the expulsion from the parliamentary group of his party, his Sally Berisha, a historical political figure in the country, founder and president of the Democratic Party for 23 years, twice prime minister and president of the Republic in the country.

Albanian media and politicians have made no secret of the fact that Basia’s decision to oust Berisha from his party’s parliamentary group, the man who promoted him to the Democratic Party leadership in 2013, is a result of US pressure.

In the name of clearing Albanian politics of corrupt politicians, in May 2021 the US State Department and personally Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced the decision to ban Sali Berisha and his family from entering the US on charges of corruption. endanger US security.

Shortly after the April 25 election, US Ambassador to Tirana Yari Kim called for a purge of the new parliament from corrupt lawmakers, leaving three newly elected lawmakers who have previously been accused of corruption. .

Sali Berisha himself called the decision of his successor in the Party illegal and added that he surrenders the sovereignty of the Democratic Party and serves the Prime Minister of the country Eddy Rama.

A storm of reactions for and against Basia’s decision has broken out in the Democratic Party since yesterday, Thursday. With reference to the role of Western actors in the political life of the country, especially the US, opinions are divided in public discourse in the country.