Inter-party cleavages send shock waves through Malёsia!

ALBANIAN ALTERNATIVE PARTY SPLITS ON ACCUSATIONS OF SABATOGE, SCANDAL, AND DECEPTION


TUZ,MALËSIA e MADHE, 3 MARCH 2009 – With just days left before Montenegro’s political parties were to remit their candidate’s names to appear on the ballots for the 29 March elections, the Albanian Alternative Party (AAP) in Tuz collapses amid reports of internal conflict between two party members vying for a seat in parliament.

The AAR’s Vasel Sinishtaj (Member of Parliament) and Nik Gjeloshaj are threatening to disrupt the constituent voting base in Malesia, which could potentially be the start of the end for the AAP.

In the narrowest of margins, the AAP steering committee last week selected Nik Gjeloshaj as their candidate to take over Sinishtaj’s seat in Parliament with a victory on 29 March. Sinishtaj, on the other hand, cried foul and accused Gjeloshaj of sabotaging the votes and not following quorum rules, which left out a key member’s vote who was at the time in Kosova.

Citizens of Tuz expressed outrage at the timing of the controversy, where each party had to submit a candidate’s name to appear on the ballot no later than 3 March. As the party negotiated through the weekend, neither person conceded to the other. Gjeloshaj claimed that he was selected according to party rules and regulations and that Sinishtaj’s efforts were for more selfish reasons than for the overall goals of the party. Gjeloshaj proposed that if an agreement could not be made between the two, that both candidates step down and allow a third member to move towards the candidacy.

Sinishtaj claimed that the root cause of the party’s differences took place last summer, where members of the governing board displayed signs of discontent with the AAPs overall progress and vision leading to the next round of elections. Suspicions between party members on who would be best fitted to lead the party increased further after the DPS announced early elections, whereafter the tables began to turn on Sinishtaj and roughly half the members turned their support to Gjeloshaj.

Meanwhile, two of Montenegro’s major daily papers – Vjesti and Dan – have taken the opportunity to underscore the schism between the AAP, further complicating public opinion and possibly leading to a disenfranchised electorate come 29 March.

Many citizens of Tuz are afraid that voters will abandon the AAP altogether and cast their vote for the Montenegrin parties, especially the ruling DPS, which has traditionally included Ferhat Dinosha in its coalition. This, in turn, would be devastating for a people that had worked so hard to elect “one of their own” in a region that has been torn by broken promises and dishonesty by the DPS. Another alternative will be the other Albanian parties, including a strong showing by FORCA, an Ulqin-based party that has made strong inroads in Malesia during the past year. But for many Albanians in Malesia, the AAP was seen as the party that aligned itself closest with the citizens of Tuz and the best fitted to appease some of the most pressing concerns in the region.

One resident in Tuz, summed it up by saying, “regardless of the outcome, Sinsihtaj and Gjeloshaj have failed to recognize that Malesia is bigger than they are, and the future of Albanians in this tiny region rests in the hands of its elected officials, who have until now disregarded their interests and breached their trust by mishandling the confidence they granted upon them when they were elected in 2006. So thus, it is not the majority that threatens the progression of Albanians, instead it is the long-standing egotism and jealousy of the few that continuous to plague and impede upon the evolution of the many.”