Οι αλβανικές εκλογές της 26ης Μαΐου 1996 και η ελληνική μειονότητα : προβλήματα και προοπτικές

Abstract

The Albanian elections of May 26th, 1996, the third since the Communist
régime collapsed in 1990, were unquestionably a milestone in our neighbour’s
history. Not only did they mark the end of the first stage of the six-year journey
towards démocratisation, but they were also the starting-point for the
subsequent developments that will bring Albania to the threshold of the twentyfirst
century. All the same, despite their crucial importance, the conditions
under which they were held were not worthy of the occasion and did not rise to
the challenge of the times. Trapped in the climate of pre-election polarity and with its own internal
problems to address, the Greek minority opted to express itself through the
party of the Human Rights Union, since an Albanian law passed in July 1991
bans political parties based on ethnic factors and the minority’s official
mouthpiece, ΟΜΟΝΟΙΑ, thus could not take part in the elections. The
undemocratic conditions under which the elections were held, coupled with the
crisis unfolding within ΟΜΟΝΟΙΑ itself (one of the most serious in its history),
did not bear out the minority’s hopes and pre-election aims, while the irregular
political developments that were taking place in Albania throughout 1996 were
to make its position even more difficult and politically precarious.