* Centre-right party to shake up polarised politics
* President’s term ends in July, expected to lead party
* Topi will challenge PM Berisha on crime and corruption
By Benet Koleka
TIRANA, April 30 (Reuters) – Allies of Albanian President
Bamir Topi announced the creation of a new party on Monday,
threatening to shake up the Balkan country’s polarised political
scene and challenge Prime Minister Sali Berisha.
Topi’s five-year term as president is due to end in July and
he is expected to take charge of the new centre-right party, New
Democratic Spirit (NDS), when members elect a leader in
September.
Since the fall of communism two decades ago, politics in
Albania has been dominated by Berisha’s Democratic Party and the
Socialist Party, currently in opposition.
Topi, a Democrat before he gave up party allegiance to serve
as president, has been locked in confrontation with Berisha,
accusing his government of failing to fight corruption and
strengthen law and order in Albania.
The European Union is withholding coveted candidate status
for the country, home to 2.8 million people and one of the
poorest nations in Europe, over the lack of progress.
“The ideological profile of NDS will be centre-right and it
will stand for liberal ideas,” said former Deputy Prime Minister
Gazmend Oketa, a lawmaker who split from the ruling Democratic
Party to help form the new party.
“We shall represent the interests of the middle class. This
stratum has grown with great toil, but it has not been
represented with dignity by any party.”
He said the new party would work to help former political
dissidents and citizens stripped of property by the communists,
two issues championed by 55-year-old Topi.
The conference hall where the announcement of the new party
was made, opposite the parliament building, was so packed that
supporters spilled out onto the street and listened on
loudspeakers that had been set up.
A former ally of Berisha, Topi was elected president with
the votes of the Democrats and six opposition MPs who crossed
the floor to back him.
He has neither confirmed nor denied that he will take charge
of the new party, saying only that he would return to politics
after his presidential mandate ends “to contribute to higher
standards of Albanian democracy”.
(Editing by Matt Robinson and Pravin Char)
