The Democratic Party has launched a legal initiative for holding a local referendum on the future of Rinia Park. The Central Election Commission has approved the forms for collecting signatures, following a request submitted by Democratic Party representatives Jamarbër Malltezi, Dorjan Teliti, Adriana Kalaja and Erges Eskiu. In a public statement, the Democratic Party described this development as a concrete step in defense of green spaces and against the concreting of the capital, stressing that citizens, not individuals in power, should decide the fate of Rinia Park.
Full statement
The Democratic Party has taken a concrete step in defense of Rinia Park and against the further concreting of Tirana. The Central Election Commission has approved the forms for collecting signatures for holding a local referendum, following the initiative undertaken by Democratic Party representatives Jamarber Malltezi, Dorjan Teliti, Adriana Kalaja and Erges Eskiu. This is an important step in the battle to return to the citizens of Tirana the right to decide on their city.
For years, the capital has been subjected to a development model in which concrete wins over greenery, towers over public spaces, and the interests of a minority over the needs of hundreds of thousands of citizens.
Tirana is suffocating from traffic, pollution, unaffordable housing prices and a lack of green spaces. Yet Edi Rama’s response is always the same: one more tower. The Democratic Party says NO to this model. We believe that the fate of Rinia Park should be decided by the citizens of Tirana, not by one person, no matter how much power he has accumulated. And we are not waging this battle with statements alone, Instagram posts or media spectacles. The Democratic Party is acting. With a concrete initiative, with a legal procedure and with a direct democratic instrument: the referendum.
Today we appeal to all citizens of Tirana, civil society, activists, citizen organizations and every political force that opposes the concreting of the capital: Join us in collecting signatures! This is not a battle for the flag of the Democratic Party. It is a battle for our city, for our children and for the right of citizens not to be treated as spectators of decisions that change their lives. The Democratic Party is ready to cooperate with every opposition force, without exception, to collect the necessary signatures as quickly as possible and to open the way for the referendum.
This initiative is at the same time an opportunity to test opposition cooperation in practice ahead of the local elections. Because the unity of the opposition cannot remain a slogan repeated in TV studios, at press conferences or on social networks. Unity is proven on the ground, in confrontation with power, in defense of the public interest. This is the first concrete test of readiness to place citizens’ interest above political egos, small calculations and personal showmanship. We do not need an opposition that competes over who makes the most beautiful post against Edi Rama. We need an opposition that unites its forces to stop his decisions. We do not need facade opposition, but citizen action.