Prime Minister Edi Rama’s demonstration with the Municipal Administration in “Skënderbej” Square has raised strong suspicions not only about the use of state administration but also about the “manipulation” of official documents that made the event possible.
Documents obtained by “shteg.org” show that the activity carried out by Prime Minister Rama and the Municipality of Tirana did not match the information previously provided to the Central Election Commission (CEC). According to official announcements, the Prime Minister was to participate in the opening ceremony of “Tirana, Mediterranean Capital of Culture and Dialogue 2025”. However, the activity carried out turned out to be a political meeting with employees of the Municipality of Tirana, raising suspicions of misuse of state resources.
Another significant discrepancy concerns the dates and format of the reported events. According to the documents, the opening ceremony of the cultural project was to be held on March 12, and not on February 20, as it actually took place. Moreover, contrary to what was announced, the event was not attended by foreign authorities or ordinary citizens, but only by municipal employees, clearly indicating the organizers’ intention to disguise a political meeting as an institutional event.
The fabricated Manifesto documents
It is approximately 4:30 PM on February 20th and perhaps for the first time, the bars near the Opera House in Tirana are empty of customers enjoying afternoon coffee.
In “Skënderbej” Square, the “working meeting” is about to begin, as Prime Minister Rama himself described it, as he stood in front of employees from various sectors of the Municipality of Tirana, declaring that regardless of what he and the employees think about Veliaj’s guilt, the justice bodies must grant him the elementary right to a dignified trial, which according to him puts an end to the brutal practices of handcuffing without trial.
The holding of this meeting, according to documents available to “shteg.org”, was not considered by the Central Election Commission as an electoral meeting that conflicts with Article 91 of the Electoral Code, which specifies that the forced use of human resources in an election campaign of the institution’s administration during working hours for electoral purposes is prohibited.
According to regulation number 9 approved 5 years ago by the Regulatory Commission, public activities must be reported to the Central Election Commission a maximum of 5 days before the event.
However, according to the documents that “shteg.org” has, the activity about which the CEC was informed did not at all resemble the topic addressed by the Deputy Mayor and the Prime Minister in front of Tirana Municipality employees.
The CEC has been notified by the Prime Minister’s Office that at 4:00 PM on February 20, the Prime Minister would be present at the opening ceremony of “Tirana, Mediterranean Capital of Culture and Dialogue 2025”, where foreign and local authorities would be present.
However, the public invitations for the opening of this ceremony announced its holding on March 12, and not February 20, where there were no foreign authorities present and not just any citizen of Tirana could be present, but only employees of the Municipality.
Also, the ceremony in which the Prime Minister delivered his statement for almost 1 hour was far from the ideology of the project for Tirana as the Capital of Culture and Dialogue.
Erion Tase, executive director of the Academy of Political Studies, tells “shteg.org” that regarding the standards of the last elections, what has also been emphasized by international missions in Albania and in good practices, our country should make a clearer distinction between those who speak as high-ranking officials and those who speak as politicians.
“This division is not clear and often leaves room for desire, since when someone goes and speaks at a meeting about an inauguration or public work, there seems to be a clear division between who is the candidate and who is the minister speaking,” says Tase, adding that this problem also gives rise to the misperception that state resources are being misused.
“Good practices show that a better division should be made, there should also be self-regulation, control. Of course, this also includes the CEC’s monitoring part, but the CEC cannot come out and say now the Prime Minister is speaking, now the Party Chairman is speaking. This is a standard that must be respected,” he concludes.
Some of the Tirana Municipality employees, who listened to the speech of Prime Minister Rama and the Deputy Mayor of Tirana, Anuela Ristani, for about 45 minutes, were dressed in their work uniforms, while others did not hesitate to leave as the Prime Minister, with a view on the screen behind him of the “Air Albania” tower stadium, said that construction permits are not privileges and favors of the Mayor.
“Building permits are not privileges, favors that the mayor does, they are development rights of owners and investors together. Anyone who accuses of bribery in the issuance of building permits without evidence simply either did it themselves, or would do it themselves if they had it in their hands,” he said, while in the space beyond the iron railings a police cordon did not allow citizens to pass near the area where Veliaj’s sympathizers – employees – were standing in silence as they listened to their Mayor.
They were different from the last time, when they chanted “Shame” in the Special Court premises, after the latter had made the decision for the “security measure in prison” for Veliaj.
Forced laborers
Despite the fact that the “working meeting” took place in the middle of “Skenderbeg” Square, not all citizens could cross the police cordon to closely follow the Prime Minister’s statement yesterday afternoon, February 20, 2025.
“You can’t enter, it’s by invitation,” was the response of a police officer on duty, who, while standing in front of the isolated monument for reconstruction of the national hero, Gjergj Kastrioti, refused to answer the question of whether the invitation should be physical or not, while previously the Municipality’s invitation for the activity that was supposed to be held was public.
A few meters away, another police officer clarified that sympathizers could attend the event, but not cross the fence where the municipality employees were located.
*Mirela, with her hair pinned back and wearing a thin jacket, rubbing her hands bruised from the cold, says in the northern dialect that she did not come to the “work meeting” of her own free will after a long day at work.
“They told us that I have to come, but I’m leaving because I can’t anymore. I’m tired,” she says, indicating that she works in one of the institutions under the Municipality and leaves with a smile that implied a refusal to answer other questions asked by “shteg.org”.
After a few minutes, she returns again, but this time she is looking for journalists.
“Please don’t record me somewhere. I’m praying that I’m making a living doing this,” she said, and after making sure that her real name would not be published anywhere, she turned her back on the meeting where her colleagues were still standing and left.
Unlike her, one of the employees of the Directorates under the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Tirana seems to think otherwise.
“I came here to support the mayor,” she says, as she briefly answered the question of whether Veliaj’s arrest has affected the daily work of the municipality with a “No” and left along with the other employees after the Prime Minister had concluded his statement, which again included attacks on the Special Prosecution Office.
“Everyone makes mistakes, and those who work harder make more mistakes than those who don’t know what the job is. Even the new justice bodies cannot be infallible. Our mistakes do not destroy people’s lives, families, businesses and political interests, as happens when justice makes mistakes.” – said Rama, while Erion Tase tells “shteg.org” that justice institutions have had and still have the power to conduct investigations both during the campaign and after the elections, and that it has always been a practice that should have been followed.
“They have even been criticized for not following up. So far, we have not seen any violations by SPAK or other district prosecutors in implementing their duties under the law,” Tase concludes.
*Mirela – “shteg.org” set a pseudonym to prevent the Municipality employee from being identified!
Dallandyshe Xhaferri është gazetare në "Rrjetin e Raportimit të Krimit të Organizuar dhe Korrupsionit në Shqipëri" - RRKOKSH. Ajo ka studiuar Gazetari në Universitetin “Aleksandër Xhuvani” dhe ka marrë pjesë në shkëmbime studentore në Poloni dhe SHBA. Në Poloni, ka ndjekur një semestër në "Journalism and Management" në Universitetin "Papa Gjon Pali II", ndërsa në SHBA ka marrë leksione mbi gazetarinë në Kolegjin e Bostonit. Gjatë katër viteve të fundit, ajo ka punuar si gazetare në organizata të ndryshme me fokus gazetarinë cilësore dhe ka qenë e angazhuar në projekte të IFES, East West Management Institute dhe Rana Labs.
