Government of National Reconciliation

Background

After the controversial parliamentary elections held on 26 May 1996, the Democratic Party won an absolute majority in parliament: with 55.5% of the vote, securing 122 out of 140 seats. In addition to the 10 Socialist Party deputies who boycotted parliament, the Republican Party and PBDNJ each had 3 seats each and National Front Party 2 seats. The European Parliament demanded the cancellation of the elections, while the ODIHR did not send observers to the by-elections due to serious shortcomings. In addition to electoral fraud, the election law had favored the ruling Democrats. Hoping that international criticism would soon be forgotten, Democrats moved forward. Aleksandër Meksi was tasked by Berisha to form a new government, which included representatives of the Republican, Social Democratic and Christian Democrat parties.

The Democratic Party had extended control not only to the executive and the legislative, but also to the judiciary, police, electronic media, but mostly to the secret services, which were the strongest weapon that Berisha and the Meksi Government used against protests, criticism and political opponents.

In addition to the political crisis, Albania was also heading towards an economic and social crisis. Several companies operating under the pyramid scheme were established in the country. Lured by very high returns, sometimes up to double-digit interest rates per month, hundreds of thousands of Albanians had invested their savings and in some cases liquidated assets. At the end of November 1996, the first company went bankrupt. The ensuing panic led to the collapse of most of the other pyramid schemes in a row by February 1997. The first mass protest was held in Lushnja on 24 January 1997, where Democratic Party exponents who went there to calm the situation were attacked by outraged crowds. The protests then continued in Vlora and Tirana, to which the government responded with repression and force. On 22 January, the then independent writer Edi Rama, was physically attacked by unidentified individuals, while five days later Socialist Party activist Ndre Legisi also suffered the same fate. In both cases, the police failed to conduct an adequate investigation. The government took increasingly repressive measures in January and February, as demonstrations became more violent and angry crowds looted the headquarters of the ruling party and subordinate government institutions in southern cities. In the last week of January, large-scale arrests were reported in several southern cities, where police and SHIK took protesters out of their homes in the middle of the night without any arrest warrants and detained them for several days and in places unspecified. After their release, many reported physical abuse and torture. Violent protests erupted in early February in Vlora wherein the second protest was held on February 9, during the clashes one protester was killed and many others were injured. The situation worsened day by day with open fighting against SHIK in the city on 27 February, a day after about a hundred secret police forces were sent south from Tirana. Violence quickly spread to other cities in the south, where insurgents attacked police stations, releasing prisoners, and looting army bases with automatic weapons, grenades, and anti-aircraft guns. There were protests in almost every city, some of which included physical confrontations between demonstrators and police officers. The victims demanded compensation and responsibility from the government and, especially in southern Albania, retaliated by destroying police stations and other state facilities. The government increasingly lost control of large parts of the country, while in many cities armed committees of similar citizens were formed in the form of militias called the Rescue Committees (Komitetet e Shpëtimit), which later merged into a so-called National Rescue Committee (Komiteti Kombëtar i Shpëtimit).

On 1 March 1997, Prime Minister Aleksandër Meksi and his ministers was forced to resign due to the situation that came out of control, and a day later a state of emergency was declared that paved the way for the army to act by any means to restore order. The opposition united in one front called the "Forum for Democracy" (Forumi për Demokraci), saw this as a provocation that would worsen the situation and as an indication that Berisha was ready to retain power at any cost. A days later, on 3 March, the Parliament totally controlled by the Democratic Party elected for the second time with a 5-year term the incumbent President Sali Berisha. The cities of Southern Albania, despite the measures taken, were falling one by one into the hands of the rebels. On March 6, due to international pressure and lack of results, Berisha was forced to withdraw his army from the south.

On 9 March 1997, after a meeting with opposition leaders, it was agreed to form an multi-party interim government that would restore public order and create the conditions for early elections before June 1997. At the head of the government it was agreed to put a figure who had not been involved in active politics in Tirana. And after the negotiations, the Socialist Party, the largest opposition party, proposed Bashkim Fino, then acting mayor of Gjirokastër.