The celebrations marking the 35th anniversary of the founding of the Socialist Party in Fier have been overshadowed by sharp political controversy.
Former Socialist MP from Fier, Petro Koçi, publicly criticized former Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, accusing her of creating divisions among Socialists and distorting the history of the Socialist Party in the Fier region.
Petro Koçi’s Public Statement
“The boulevard is burning while corruption is combing its hair. The founder of corruption could not resist practicing her craft even during a ceremony celebrating the anniversary of the Socialist Party’s founding.
Wherever she is sent, whether in government or party positions, she usually spreads fear and servility.
Last night, she also displayed the ugly vice of dividing the founders of the Socialist Party. Some were invited, others were forgotten. The sycophants and cowards around her remained silent. She openly demonstrated the behavior of a vindictive person. No one can throw the hierarchy of contributions to the founding, modernization, and strengthening of the Socialist Party into the trash bin.”
Koçi went on to link Balluku to recent political developments in Fier and the electoral process.
“This is certainly not the image of someone who inspires the nightly protests taking place on Tirana’s boulevard and who continues to feed Sali Berisha’s Democratic Party.
Nor is it the image of the person who, in the May 2025 elections, brought shame to the history of the Socialist Party in Fier through vote theft even within her own ranks, something verified during the recount process, or through the scandal involving the falsification of the composition of the winning list during the initial counting of ballots.
And certainly not the person who included on the parliamentary candidate list the descendants of those who betrayed the votes and sacrifices of Socialists during the critical elections of 1996, or those who humiliated the women of Libofsha. The founders of corruption will never be able to erase the history of the founding of the Socialist Party,” Koçi wrote.
