Sali Berisha is no longer the chairman of the Democratic Party (PD) of Albania, as of July 26, 2025. The statement was made by legal expert Indrit Sefa during an interview on “Ditarin e fundjavës” on A2 CNN, hosted by journalist Erion Dushi.
According to Sefa, Berisha’s removal is dictated directly by the statute of the Democratic Party, which overrides any personal decision regarding resignation.
“It’s not up to Mr. Berisha to decide whether or not to resign. The statute clearly states: ‘He is no longer chairman and cannot run in the next elections,’” Sefa emphasized, referencing Article 46 of the party’s statute.
The official termination of Berisha’s role came after the Electoral College certified the results of the recent elections, which triggered the automatic dismissal clause.
Sefa also addressed the party’s broader challenges, highlighting its electoral decline:
“Today, the Democratic Party, together with the SMI (LSI), is 100,000 votes behind the PD of 2021 alone. Back then, PD received 621,000 votes, and with the SMI, 730,000. In the latest elections, they only got 531,000.”
He criticized the internal structure of the party as “nonexistent,” citing organizational issues, weak electoral commissions, and the absence of credible fraud evidence:
“They opened the ballot boxes where they wanted. There was no trace of the so-called ‘Bulgarian Train.’ If there was electoral crime in 2021, it was significantly worse than now.”
Sefa argued that blaming the party’s loss on the absence of the Re-establishment faction is a diversion. Instead, he sees the current turmoil as a tactical move by Berisha:
“This whole storm in a teacup — claiming ‘we lost because there was no Re-establishment’ — is a cover for poor results. The reality is, Berisha is no longer the leader — not de facto, not de jure.”
Moving forward, the Democratic Party is expected to be led in the interim by one of its deputy chairs — Agron Gjekmarkaj, Gazment Bardhi, Luçiano Boçi, or Oerd Bylykbashi — until a new leadership structure is formalized.
