VLEN accuses DUI of two decades in power and failing to respect the law

VLEN, a political grouping within the governing majority, sharply criticised the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), saying the party spent two decades in power focused on tenders and theft and therefore never learned to respect the law.

In a written statement VLEN rejected recent DUI accusations that it is presenting itself as a single political entity while other parties it absorbed remain active in the Central Register. VLEN said those claims are a politically motivated attempt to discredit the process of unification.

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“After their story about Besa failed, now they have seized on Alternativa, and they still cannot determine whether DUI is really led by Ali Ahmeti, Bujar Osmani or Artan Grubi from house arrest,” the statement reads.

VLEN also said it did not run in the local elections as a registered political party and that the consolidation of several political subjects is the result of rights and obligations that arose from the electoral process after VLEN won in ten municipalities. “That is why the transition of the five political factors into VLEN as a single party takes place in phases, in accordance with the laws and procedures required by the regulations. There is no secret here and no fraud. There is only a legal procedure which DUI either does not understand or deliberately pretends not to understand in order to produce cheap propaganda,” the party added.

VLEN further accused DUI of having been in power for twenty years and pledged that Alternativa, Besa, the Democratic Movement, the Alliance for the Albanians and Self-Determination will remain in the memory of the Albanian people as the political forces that defeated DUI. The statement also said the party intends to push the unreformed DUI leadership in Mala Rechica into “permanent political retirement.”

Earlier, DUI had alleged—citing Central Registry documents—that Alternativa continues to appear as a separate political party with a changed leader, and that Zekirija Berisha is registered as its president. According to DUI, Berisha serves as chief of staff to the first deputy prime minister and minister for European affairs, Bekim Sali. Last week DUI likewise said the party Besa, which VLEN says has merged into it, still shows as active in the Central Register under Bilal Kasami.

Photo: press material from the event