The parliamentary group leader of the PS, Taulant Balla, has revealed when the PS will announce its candidate for mayor of Tirana in the upcoming local elections. Speaking this Wednesday on the programme “Koha Jonë-Debat,” moderated by Nikoll Lesi, Balla said the Socialist candidate for the capital will be made public between 20 and 25 March 2027. Asked whether the Socialist Party will follow the preliminary election model, i.e. primaries, proposed by MP Erion Braçe, Balla was categorical. “There will be no primaries for any municipality,” Balla said, making clear that candidates will be selected through an internal party process. As for Tirana, he said the PS is conducting polls and verifications for the candidate profile, without revealing specific names.
Excerpts from the debate
Lesi: The PD, that is, the opposition, has more or less found its candidate for the Tirana municipality, but why is the PS so late? Or is it the Erion Braçe factor that is holding you back?
Balla: Let me tell you, they won’t have the candidate they’ve been talking about!
Lesi: Ilir Alimehmeti?
Balla: They won’t have him as a candidate either. Yesterday the President of the Republic came out and invited political parties for consultation.
Lesi: The PD said “I won’t go.”
Balla: I hope the PD takes part in the elections.
Lesi: They will take part, even though you don’t care…
Balla: I do care, because today, while we’re talking together, the PD is having its blackest day, worse than in its darkest year. The PS, in these elections too, is following the same process it has followed over the last 20 years. We held a long discussion in the party Presidency and approved a plan for how we will select the composition of the Municipal Councils, and in the coming days we will make it public, for anyone who wishes to be with the PS on the Municipal Council.
Lesi: Will you go with primaries, as Erion Braçe requested? Yes or no?
Balla: Erion has made some proposals.
Lesi: Will it go to primaries, according to Erion?
Balla: In our history, the PS has held primaries only once: one member, one vote, in 2007. The experience was not positive, because at that time we had 384 branches, and it did not work out well for us. But we will carry out a selection process. You mentioned Erion and Ogerta; they are very good candidates.
Lesi: Will there be someone from civil society?
Balla: The Socialist Party always remains open, because after all, never forget that when Edi Rama was elected mayor of Tirana, he was not a PS member. Edi Rama came as Minister of Culture, but he was not a member of the PS.
Lesi: So in these elections, you will go with a civil society candidate for mayor of Tirana?
Balla: We will carry out our full selection process for all 46 municipalities. In Kamëz, Rakip Suli will certainly run again.
Lesi: Don’t slip away into the districts, let’s come to Tirana. Who will be the candidate for mayor?
Balla: The PS is conducting its own polls and verifications for the candidate profile.
Lesi: When will you announce the candidate?
Balla: The candidate will be officially announced between 20 and 25 March 2027.
Lesi: There will be no primaries in Tirana?
Balla: There will be no primaries for any municipality.
Lesi: So Erion Braçe is finished?!
Balla: I didn’t say that….