Democratic Party MP General Secretary Gazment Bardhi has spoken about the situation within the Democratic Party, as he has said that there have been attempts to unite the party for months, but there was an outright rejection by former Prime Minister Sali Berisha. 

Bardhi revealed details from behind the scenes at the meeting of the DP led by Enkelejd Alibeaj for the May 14 elections, where he confirmed the names of Jonila Godole and Roland Bejko for Tirana, but indicated that there are even more names others that have been proposed by the headship. 

"We have not come up with candidates now, the structures have proposed their candidates, where 4 or 5 have been approved in November 2022. Some of them have started a long time ago, even before the primaries, they have started the campaign. No candidates are coming up now. What we tried and saw as a solution was the unification with one candidate. 

We have offered everything that could be offered. For the sake of the democrats, we have offered several solutions continuously for 6 months, but we have never received a solution from Mr. Berisha's group. 

Negotiations with Paloka continued until there was a firm answer from Mr. Berisha. There was a complete refusal to find a solution, we offered the solution and Alibeaj came out with a public position on our offer, but there was a refusal without explanation. There is a scenario to pit the Democrats among themselves for this year's elections. There is no difference between the situation today and what happened in 2019. It is the same as not entering the elections at all, and entering the elections with two candidates, giving the victory to Edi Rama. 

How will we become reliable for Albanians when we don't get along with each other? We have made every effort to have a candidate and we will try again. There is a rejection and colleagues have decided to go to another party, which does not suit them. The candidates for Tirana, Durrës and Elbasan have been on our table for several days. We will see what the leadership of the DP will decide today. 

If you ask me as a Democrat if I will support another party, it will never happen. I am in DP for the values it stands for. I cannot go to other parties that value other principles. 

Bejko and Godole are not the only ones who have been proposed for the municipality of Tirana by the structures, there are even more names. There is no decision yet, but there are more than 2 names. I can't take out the documents we have on the work table", said Bardhi.