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SHFRAT/ How Berisha turned out to be more defeated than Basha in 2021: 140 thousand votes less!

2025-05-14 13:43:34Politikë SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
SHFRAT/ How Berisha turned out to be more defeated than Basha in 2021: 140
Sali Berisha/Lulzim Basha

That Sali Berisha would lose to Edi Rama's electoral machine in the elections of May 12, 2025 was expected. But another equally important race for Berisha was with the result that Lulzim Basha had achieved four years earlier.

If the opposition had maintained the same level of votes, despite not winning, Berisha's leadership would have emerged more legitimate from these elections.

But what do the numbers show?

In this year's elections, the coalition led by Berisha, the Democratic Party – Alliance for a Greater Albania, received 481,548 votes, or 34.26% of the national vote. This translates into about 50 parliamentary seats.

In comparison, in 2021, Lulzim Basha and the coalition he led "Democratic Party - Alliance for Change" received 622,187 votes, or 39.43% of the national vote, securing 59 seats in the Assembly.

The difference is significant: 140 thousand fewer votes for Berisha than for Basha, and this is a deep loss in absolute figures.

If you translate it into the language of the Albanian electoral system, where on average about 10,400 votes are needed for a mandate, then it is clear that the system has harmed Basha in 2021, while favoring Berisha in 2025, who received fewer votes but retained a relatively similar number of mandates.

But beyond the system, the fact that the opposition lost 140,000 votes in just 4 years is a major alarm. These votes need to be analyzed: Where did they go? Why did they leave?

Tirana: Lost votes went to new parties

One of the opposition's biggest losses was recorded in Tirana. In 2021, the Democrats received 182,335 votes in the capital, while in 2025 only 150,784 votes. So, 32 thousand fewer voters, which translates into 3 fewer mandates that come as the opposition's rejection of Sali Berisha's return.

Part of Tirana's opposition spirit seems to have passed to the new parties: Agron Shehaj secured 2 mandates, Adriatik Lapaj 1 mandate, and Arlind Qori also 1 mandate. This is a clear signal that a part of the opposition electorate in the capital is looking for new faces and philosophies as an alternative to Edi Rama.

Elbasan and Fier: Defeat for the opposition

The situation is even more dramatic in Elbasan and Fier if compared to 4 years ago.

In Elbasan, the coalition led by Tomor Alizoti received 20,000 fewer votes than the opposition led by Lulzim Basha in 2021, when Gazment Bardhi was running. At that time, the competition in Elbasan was fierce and violent.

Bardhi took armed groups with him to protect the vote against Taulant Balla and his connections with local gangs.

From the conflict in which Pjerin Xhuvani was killed, it became clear that the prosecution and local police were also on the side of the gangs. Of course, nothing has changed four years later.

In Fier, where Gazment Bardhi was running again, Berisha's coalition lost 24,000 votes compared to the Democrats' result in 2021. Here too, it is noticeable that the new parties have absorbed a part of the opposition electorate. With a different coordination, Shehaj+Lapaj could have won at least one more mandate for the opposition.

Lulzim Basha: From a leader doomed to defeat

It is paradoxical how the democrats who so strongly supported Lulzim Basha four years ago, have rejected him just as decisively in these elections, when he reinvented himself as a fan of Unikatil. In Tirana, Basha received only 8578 internal votes, failing miserably. This was expected after a brutal exclusion that almost all opposition factors in the country did.

This shows that the reason why the opposition had a much higher result in numbers four years ago was not the personality, oratory, leadership or management skills of Lulzim Basha.

The truth is that four years ago, Lulzim Basha worked in a more favorable electoral climate, when the opposition had more chances and more hope for victory.

Even though Lulzim Basha was prosecuted for financing in the United States and had problems with the prosecution for uncovering the seizure of millions of euros in a Toyota Yaris in Durrës, it must be said that Edi Rama had not yet given the OK to begin arrests among the opposition.

The Socialist Party had a patronage base that had not yet been perfected at the capillary level as it is today and had not yet issued prosecutors and judges against the leaders of the opposition, as a result, in support of Basha there was a more consolidated opposition, which, despite all the problems it had, was not involved in the crises of defeatist pessimism that it finds itself in today./Lapsi


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