Politico: Rama defeated opponents linked to American 'MAGA'

Prime Minister Rama has defeated his political opponents linked to President Trump's MAGA movement, securing the 4th historic governing mandate in Albania.

With this title, the POLITICO portal comments on the role of American strategists in supporting Sali Berisha's return to power, a mission that proved unsuccessful. Rama himself told POLITICO that hiring Donald Trump's campaign strategist and thinking you can become Trump "is like hiring a Hollywood hairdresser and thinking you're going to become Brad Pitt."

The fact that the Democrats had hired Chris LaCivita, a Republican campaign maestro who orchestrated the victory that returned Donald Trump to power in the 2024 US elections, did not seem to bother Rama. 

“It is the most humbling experience of my life coming at a historic moment for Albania as a future member state of the European Union. Hiring LaCivita and thinking you can become Trump is like hiring a Hollywood hairdresser and thinking you will become Brad Pitt. I am amazed by the Democrats for believing that just because someone worked for Trump, they carried some kind of magical Trumpian power in society. However, it was a comedy worth watching,” Rama says.

Campaign strategist LaCivita helped Berisha craft their message and run the electoral campaign. He reinforced Berisha's allegations of election fraud with a post on X, where he published footage of a suspected Socialist Party vote-buying office located near a polling station in Tirana.

"This is what vote theft in Albania by Edi Rama's narco-government looks like," his post said.

For Rama himself, who is savoring his victory, only one thing was important: "the sentiment of the voters."

"They have sent a powerful and simple message: We want to finally reach the heights of the European Union and we can only do this with you and the Socialist Party!" says Rama.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's election monitoring mission said Monday that the elections were conducted in an inclusive and transparent manner.

Edi Rama, POLITICO’s journalist points out, succeeded by playing the role of a polite host to Western leaders and reinforcing his main election promise, that he is the only person who can bring Albania to the brink of EU membership within five years. Rama made a key aspect of his campaign the promise of the country’s EU membership by 2030.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa will travel to Albania for the sixth edition of the summit, an initiative launched by French President Emmanuel Macron to bring together EU and non-EU countries for talks on security, economic cooperation and regional stability.

"It is a great honor to welcome all the leaders of our democratic continent to Tirana, including Ukraine and my dear friend Volodymyr Zelenskyy," Sunday's election winner Edi Rama told POLITICO.

Asked if Albania had any advice for Ukraine, which is an EU aspirant, Rama emphasized the unique status of this country in the integration process.

"Albania does not pretend to teach lessons to Ukraine. On the contrary, we can only learn from Ukraine from the price that its people are willing to pay for their path towards the West and the European Union," Rama says.

This will be the second visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to our country.