
The head of the Democratic Party parliamentary group, Gazment Bardhi, has reacted to the debate created around Erion Braçe's vote for the new territorial division, shifting attention to Prime Minister Edi Rama's responsibility for the merger of 15 municipalities.
In a reaction on social media, Bardhi emphasizes that Braçe was the only socialist MP who publicly opposed the new map and argued against it in the plenary session.
According to him, the media's attention should not be focused on the vote of the socialist MP, while the main responsibility, according to him, belongs to the prime minister.
"Edi Rama is depopulating Albania and abandoning service to citizens! This is the concern that we all need to deal with, right, left and without party.
However, for two days now, the media has been dealing with the 85th vote, that of Erion Braçe, who, in fact, was the only MP from the SP parliamentary group who raised his voice and argued against the New Territorial Map in the plenary session.
Meanwhile, others, even though the municipalities were being merged with the citizens who had entrusted them with the mandate of the deputy, chose to remain silent. There are 13 deputies of the municipalities affected by the territorial map, who did not dare to speak either in the closed meetings of the parliamentary group or publicly. They consciously refused to become the voice of the citizens, either in the plenary session or in the meetings of their parliamentary group.
Therefore, responsibility for the merger of 15 municipalities and for a territorial map that deepens the depopulation of the country cannot be attributed to those who raised their voices against it within the SP.
The main person responsible is Edi Rama. He is the originator and political supporter of this anti-national act. The others, in this decision-making, were content to act as voting cards. Including Belinda Balluku, vote 84, who is accused of corruption and, instead of being held accountable before justice, continues to be part of the Parliament hall, with the support of Edi Rama.
After him, the responsibility falls on the 13 deputies of the 15 municipalities affected by the territorial map and who voted in favor, while the citizens who voted against it were against.
Therefore, we must keep the debate where it belongs: not with the opposing voices within the Socialist Party, but with the one who gives the orders and demands unconditional obedience. It is Edi Rama who must be held accountable for the merger of 15 municipalities in Albania, for the consequences this decision will have on citizens, and for the interests that stand behind it.
"Albania does not need a government that abolishes municipalities and drives away citizens, but a government that serves them," Gazment Bardhi's reaction read.