Party for Democratic Prosperity - PDP
PDP started building its image by expressing a certain degree of
mistrust for and phobia against the state and its institutions. The
party leadership negatively estimated the criteria for the 1991
Census, a neopolitical statistic, i.e., scientific operation, carried
out in all countries and of international significance. The Albanians
in Macedonia, led by the party politics, generally boycotted the
census, and the State Statistics Institute was forced to come up with
approximate figures through scientific methods. As opposed to PDP
leaders' claims on Albanians constituting 40% of the total population
in Macedonia, the Institute calculated this figure to be about
21%. Besides the fact that a new census is to take place this year,
exactly because the 1991 one was boycotted by the Albanians, this
political move by PDP was taken to be a serious mistake by all other
political factors, and the majority of the public saw it as a sign of
disloyalty to the state. But, this issue will initialise a process of
political differentiation among party leaders themselves. The second
moment was the idea of holding a so-called referendum on political and
territorial autonomy for Albanians in Macedonia, formally not
organised, but also not voted against, by PDP. On the contrary, the
party openly stated it will respect the will of the Albanians and will
do everything in its power to help realise the idea of an autonomy for
Albanians in Macedonia. This was the party Congress declaration. This
was followed by numerous explanations what the declaration really had
meant -- that it was nothing to be afraid of, and that it was just a
demand for equal status of the Albanian language and alphabet wherever
they lived in Macedonia. But, there were also quite opposite
interpretations of the congress declaration -- that the autonomy must
be formed in a literal sense, with all classical institutions. There
were even positions including threats of constituting the autonomy
within Macedonian borders, unless all Albanian demands are
met. Muhamed Halili, Head of the party's parliament deputy group, gave
such a statement. The party Secretary Mithat Emini explained the
possible constituting of such an autonomy would go necessarily and
solely through the state institutions. For others, like Mahi Nesimi,
member of the PDP presidentship, it would prove to be a "funny"
autonomy, which some Albanians would be included in, and those living
out of it, excluded of. It was in fact this question that deeply
divided the top-leaders of the party and turned into a main obstacle
in resolving the current party schism, i which the so-called "hard
stream" is basing its marketing on promises to realise such an
autonomy. PDP deputies did not vote in favour of adopting the
Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, which is just another
argument in the hands of those who would like to see this party
banned. In any case, the entire public was also irritated by this, as
it was the first constitution to be adopted in an independent and
sovereign Macedonia. This is how PDP Secretary Emini explained this:
"The Albanians, regarding Macedonia to be their country, as well,
expected and struggled to ensure through the constitution their
natural and legal right to be equally constitutive people in
Macedonia, i.e., in their own state." In fact, the entire political
battle of PDP in the system's institutions is determined by their
efforts to secure this right for the Albanians in Macedonia. These
efforts included also some nervous and irrational moves, like PDP
President Halili's message from the Congress (of 1992) to the Republic
of Albania, asking it to refuse to recognise the Republic of
Macedonia, unless the latter recognises Kosovo as an independent
republic. Or, the participation of M. Halili, Head of the party's
parliament deputy group, at the CSCE Conference in Prague (1993), as a
guest of the delegation of the Republic of Albania, the same country
which voted against Macedonia being admitted to CSCE. Halili even
handed over leaflets on the position of Albanians in Macedonia, also
voting against granting Macedonia full CSCE membership. The demands
by PDP could be summed up in several points, with which the party took
part as a representative of all Albanians in Macedonia, at the Geneva
Conference on the Former Yugoslavia. Those are: changes in the
Macedonian Constitution; equal number of Albanian teachers in
high-schools and opening a Teacher's School in Albanian; at least 4-5
hours of program in Albanian on the Macedonian national television
channel; inclusion of Albanians in all govt bodies and internationally
monitored census of the population. PDP representatives stated similar
demands during talks with the Macedonian Govt, mediated by Gert
Arens. It only remains to wondered about why PDP, a govt coalition
partner, would negotiate with the govt under international mediation.
The party participation in the ruling coalition also caused the
leadership to divide. This issue is a subject which seems to mostly
burdens the inner party relations. The leadership is finding it hard
to explain why it undertakes moves of a political dialogue and
balancing, even in situations when it means deviation from the most
essential program-set goals of a national nature. The deputies and
some leadership members seem to have politically matured after they
entered the coalition, and have started acting more maturely. The
evolution in PDP is more and more obvious and the unemotional and
politically wise speeches by the party leaders in Parliament seem to
confuse the party branches and membership, used to experience the
party as a national movement with their own, national leaders. This
gave birth to a new movement, led by the leader of the "hard stream",
Menduh Taci. The new fraction seriously damages the party, which is
even threatened with a split and founding a new party out of it,
taking away with it a considerable number of leaders and members. But,
this will also strengthen the remaining structure of PDP, and will
give it more professionality, but also a third competitor - the
Liberal party, besides the previous two --
NDP and the Albanian
Democratic Alliance. What the new party program will be remains to be
seen. as the party Congress is continually delayed, because of the
schism and negotiations between the "moderate" and the "hard"
fractions. Unofficially, several technical points will be thrown out
of the old party program (like the names "Federal Socialist Republic
of Yugoslavia" and "Yugoslav People's Army", the party's position on
possible confederation, etc.), while the basic program goals will
remain the same as before, only upgraded with several demands stated
at Parliament and in negotiations with the govt. Whether the party
will be accepted as such at the Congress, will considerably depend on
the relation between the "moderate" and the "hard" ones. To be more
exact, it will depend on the party's strength to stand up to foreign
interferences (mostly by the ruling Democratic Party in Albania, which
supported Menduh Taci on several occasions), which the group of
parliament deputies and ministers protested with official Tirana
against.
Republic of Macedonia