Without a secure prediction as to their outcome, the repeat elections for the election of mayor are being held today in Himarra after the ouster of Freddy Belleris.
In terms of their importance, of course, they have exceeded the limits of the emergence of a local ruler and have taken on broader dimensions: domestic politics, as the mayor who opposes the Rama system is supported by the Albanian opposition parties, but also transnational ones, since they will influence Greek-Albanian relations despite the careful management of the issue by Athens.
The prestige of the Albanian prime minister is at stake from the result of these elections and therefore, in addition to the fact that they have attracted pan-Albanian interest, they cause concerns about widespread fraud.
Edi Rama does not appear, defiantly, in the foreground, as at other times, to guide the government’s strategies, but he assigned this role to state institutions and high-ranking figures of the government and the party.
The intense background and the regime’s cautious moves this time show that a defeat for Mr. Rama will shake his image and influence at a critical moment in the political life of Albania, which will hold parliamentary elections within a year.
Bold background
The background to the announcement of new elections in Himarra is intense, but also revealing of the absence of rule of law in the neighboring country. Beleris was not allowed to be sworn in as mayor and the municipality was managed for more than a year by incompetent persons.
The Central Electoral Commission in Tirana decided to remove the office of the elected mayor of Heimarra from Freddy Beleris, who was finally sentenced by the Court of Appeal to two years in prison. He had the right to appeal to the Electoral Court, but was not given it.
The court also adjourned until after the elections and specifically to August 29 and his request for release from prison, since he has served 2/3 of the sentence imposed on him. The justification for the postponement refers to a game of Mr. Rama with Athens. The director of the prisons, the relevant information says, “forgot” to bring Beleris’ criminal record with him.
It is obvious that the Albanian government’s strategy is to deprive Mr. Beleris of the opportunity to help the candidate supported by KEAD and Omonia in the pre-election campaign.
However, a more characteristic element of the wider environment of the persons involved in the methodical condemnation and removal of Beleris is that the Aurel Zarkauntil recently head of the Avlona Prosecutor’s Office, who fabricated the Beleris file, was arrested for corruption.
The main candidates
A candidate, friendly to Rama, is o Vangelis Tavos, a former member of the Socialist Party who served as an MP and minister. He transferred his registry deed from Dropoli to Heimarra. From the beginning of the year, Tavos was enlisted by the Albanian Prime Minister in the position of Regional Governor Avlonos for possible “exploitation”. The time for this “exploitation” has arrived.
The small communities of the Albanian countryside have cultivated localism as a means of survival. That is why – but also for other, more serious reasons – in Heimarra they consider Tavu’s candidacy provocative. The minority that moves around the KEAD and Omonia considers Tavo a man of the Albanian deep state.
The major stake that has been plaguing the people of Chimarrio for 13 years is the property titles which the Rama government refuses to grant through various methods. The expediency of non-concession is obvious and acknowledged.
Heimarra is at the heart of the Albanian Riviera and is eyed by many of the wider Rama circle that has disturbed Europe with its activities. Despite this, the institutions of the European Union – and the US – consider the developments to be of minor importance and do not intervene effectively. Besides, Mr. Rama has acquired some critical connections in Europe and the USA as well as with Turkey which support him in his policy.
The candidate supported by the minority, Petro Gikouria, promises to grant titles to those who deserve them. So is Mr. Tavos, who is supported by Mr. Rama, but the minority considers his promise hypocritical.
The organization Omonia and the Union of Human Rights Party (KEAD), which represents the Greek ethnic minority in cooperation with the official opposition, chose as their candidate Petros Gikouria, a resident of the town of Drymades, one of the seven in the Municipality of Heimarra, who is active in the USA in the catering area.
Disturbing movements
The Rama entourage hoped that the minority would not find a candidate, but the Gikuria candidacy is considered strong. The short pre-election period is again characterized by disturbing phenomena, common, in the past, in Albania but which many hoped would have disappeared: transport of voters, “cooking” of electoral lists, control of electoral commissions, etc.
Almost half of the government, deputies of the ruling Socialist Party, men of the secret services, state officials, etc. have been transferred to the area. Their main aim is to influence the electorate in any way.
Leaders of the minority asked in the previous days for observers from European institutions and the presence of the Greek embassy in the region in the days before the elections. Characteristic of the government’s moves for electoral influence is the nationalistic upsurge of the days.
One of the supporters of the government candidate stated in the previous days, in the presence of Mr. Tavos and with his tolerance, that from August 5 Greek will disappear from the region.
More generally, they characterize Omonia as a terrorist organization and any political proposal that aims at the Hellenization of Heimarra. In Albania, political parties rally Albanian citizens by highlighting nationalist issues. It is one of the few issues that unite them. That is why an anti-minority climate is being cultivated in the region, with the exploitation of the issue of the Chamis as well.
In this context, Himarra is projected as one of the main points of conflict, but it is not the only one. The national theme of Himarra is very complex, with a backstory and very different from the rest of the northern continent. For the Heimarriots, the problem lies in the misappropriation of their properties and the violation of their national rights, while for the Albanian nationalist circles, in the alteration, as they argue, of Heimarra.
The big issue is the “draining” of the Greek-speaking regions from the Greek element, the closing of the Greek-speaking schools and, in general, the abandonment of the northern mainland region from the welfare of the Greek governments.
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