Why did Edi Rama catapult Lulzim Basha’s man to the head of Tirana Municipality?

What are the Poll Data hiding that Edi Rama doesn’t like?

By Edi Rama’s order, Blendi Sulaj was appointed as deputy mayor of Tirana, with delegated responsibility over territory and urban development.

However, this appointment, along with that of three other deputies, is essentially illegal. According to local government regulations, the deputy mayor is appointed by the mayor of Tirana to be part of his executive team managing daily affairs.

Legally, the deputy mayor does not have decision-making authority, just as the mayor cannot make decisions alone; all decisions are taken by the Municipal Council, which approves the budget, sets taxes, and enacts management regulations.

The mayor issues orders and instructions solely to implement Municipal Council decisions.

The deputy mayor’s role is limited to delegated tasks from the mayor in executing written or verbal orders and instructions.

Blendi Sulaj’s appointment and those of the other deputies are practically illegitimate since such appointments can only be made by a signed and official order from the mayor, who legally is Erion Veliaj.

Veliaj’s power of attorney allows a deputy, in his absence, to lead only specific daily administrative tasks such as signing employee payrolls, approving operational fund transfers within the budget, or managing urgent matters related to daily administration.

Anduela Ristani, the appointed deputy, has no legal authority to make appointments, dismissals, or change institutional structures she merely commands but does not represent.

Such actions require the mayor’s order; no legal step can be taken without the mayor’s signature and seal.

Practically, all staff replacements in directorates under Tirana municipality—from municipal police to UKT and other enterprises—are unlawful and represent an institutional coup that can be easily overturned by the Administrative Court without needing Constitutional Court intervention.

However, the Constitutional Court could serve as the ultimate authority to provide a binding ruling on this serious violation. For the justice system to act, a request must come from Mayor Veliaj or a citizen group.

If this happens, the competent court would ask the incumbent mayor whether he authorized these moves. If Veliaj confirms he did not, then besides annulment of all decisions, the responsible parties could be held accountable for causing this coup.

Regarding Blendi Sulaj’s appointment, until recently he was part of the Democratic Party, specifically in its Youth Forum structures that led protests in front of Tirana’s municipality alongside Belind Këlliçi and Adriana Kalaja.

Sulaj was rarely seen at these protests; after Sali Berisha’s rise, he left and joined Lulzim Basha’s faction. He organized the youth forum and the branch in unit 9 of Tirana, holding meetings while Basha appeared wearing Zelensky’s famous shirt.

Unexpectedly, in March this year, Sulaj posted on social media a Socialist Party poster featuring the five-finger hand symbol—the main image of Edi Rama.

He has not explained this political switch, but he was on the Socialist Party’s open candidate list for deputies in the Tirana district.

Unlike the “Vlora Democrats” who actively supported the Socialist Party campaign, the “Democrats” of Tirana were ignored, as it seems Edi Rama reserved them for later, for Tirana’s campaign—where, apparently, Rama wants to fill Veliaj’s void with renegades from Berisha’s and Basha’s circles.

For some time, the ruling majority, through their media links, has stopped publishing popularity polls for public figures done periodically every six months.

Since Veliaj’s “arrest,” no such polls have been made public, although it is known they are still conducted monthly and contain enough data to prepare reports.

What do these data hide that Edi Rama dislikes? Pamflet sources speak of two main facts: first, the arrest of Veliaj is considered connected to Rama; second, Veliaj’s popularity has not dropped. The same opposition figures hate or oppose him, while most socialists and even a group of undecided voters still sympathize with him.

This is the data that worries Rama, as it shows that among the ruling majority’s voters, the perception of Veliaj remains largely unchanged—meaning the bite against him did not stick, making it hard for Rama to fully swallow.

Meanwhile, to stir things up, a “democrat-socialist” is promoted to sell his move as strategic to expand the electorate base—but only in words, since as recent elections showed, the PS and Sulaj himself gained no votes from the right-wing electorate.

“KORÇA BOOM”