Former MP Ervin Salianji, although in prison, continues to deliver political messages from behind bars.
In a post published a little while ago on his Facebook profile, he addressed immigrants, asking them to vote on May 11 and help the country emerge from the crisis.
Letter from cell no. 6 to an immigrant, for the most important envelope of 30 years!
930 million euros were the remittances of 2023, the latest calculated by the Bank of Albania. 930 million euros that immigrants, compatriots have sent to their relatives, their families. This is a record figure.
I am convinced that it is not just the amount that makes the difference, but especially the efficiency with which they enter the economy, making this one of the most valuable funds, one of the most important contributions to the country.
Because that money goes directly to the people, without intermediaries, without officials interfering.
It is money that directly combats poverty and enters the life cycle through consumption.
It is pure money, the toil and sweat of hundreds of thousands of men and women who, despite the difficulties and challenges they face where they live, do not forget their parents with the lowest pension in Europe. They do not forget a relative in need, on difficult days.
It is therefore a little more than 10 percent of the state budget, the fund that they bring and that is distributed in a way that corrects the forgetfulness, arrogance and lack of attention of the authorities. A fund that is like a balm for the wounds created by bad governance and corruption.
Finally, this vital part of the nation and society will vote.
With great delay, the legislator did his duty and implemented the constitutional right they have. Personally, I have always been in favor and an advocate of the vote for immigrants. And I am proud that at the end of July I said yes, in Parliament, for that change in the Electoral Code.
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There are over 1 million voters living abroad who could be part of the May 11 elections. A figure that speaks for itself about the potential it has to decide the fate of the country. A number that coincides with what the current prime minister waved as a trophy in 2013, describing it as 1 million slaps. Thus announcing the violence that would be his governing style. The
immigrant vote is the Opposition's challenge in this race. I was glad to see that the DP had launched a portal where it encouraged and helped in their identification and certification.
On January 11, the registration officially begins, which will last two months. With an Albanian state ID document and an address where he lives, every compatriot becomes a part and exercises his constitutional right. The state budget will cover the cost of postage. It is the duty of the opposition to insist on the guarantees of the process, since everyone in every corner of the world has the suspicion that their vote can be seized by the long hand of the Renaissance.
It is clear that the most concerned about that verdict is Edi Rama, judging by the news reports.
He knows the great cost he has created with his 3-term government, and he wants to explore new terrain.
"Nemo profeta in patria", the Latins have said. They do not recognize him as a prophet here. All his skins have come off. And he hopes that he will repackage himself to deceive those who have a distance, wishing that they do not have a full picture of corruption and its links with crime. I believe that he will fail. The vote of immigrants will bring change, because it is free from the clutches of the government, it cannot be caught in the lists of economic aid, in the administration's payroll, in the network of trafficking of interests, in the ghettos of the powerful.
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You who get up every morning before dawn, who work non-stop, and return home before the sun sets, you who don't have a weekend because working long hours in a factory, construction site or service makes you want to rest, you who don't have time for coffee, brandy, or chat, you who toil in Europe, America and everywhere in the West to provide that living and education for your children, you who at the end of the month, after paying the heavy bills with the money of this sacrifice, still share something for your father, mother, brother or sister, or a cousin who is in need in Albania, this time it is up to you to make the most precious gift.
The gift of May 11 will change your life there too. Because if evil stops and good governance comes, for the people, that divides the budget properly and not with clients, that fights poverty and increases pensions and support for the most vulnerable, this will improve your day too.
It is precisely the bad governance that makes you worry about your loved one. That makes you save, work harder to bring money here. It deprives you of a pleasure, because you have someone who is suffering and can't make ends meet in Albania.
It's quite clear that by voting for change here, you've changed your life quite a bit wherever you are, in Italy, Greece, Germany, England.
So, dear immigrant, don't miss this opportunity. Help your family, but especially help your country get out of the crisis, to escape from the abyss of a rule that has nothing left to give, except to repeat itself in an even darker version.