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Albania
The Coalition Government of 1991
Prime Minister Fatos
Nano, a moderate communist, did well in the spring 1991 elections,
and he was able to set up a new government, which he established
in February 1991. His postelection cabinet consisted mostly of
new faces and called for radical market reforms in the economy.
In outlining his economic program to the People's Assembly, Nano
presented an extremely bleak picture of the economy. He said that
the economy was in dire straits because of the inefficiencies
of the highly centralized economic system that had existed up
to that point, and be advocated extensive privatization as a remedy.
He also announced government plans to reform and streamline the
armed forces.
Nano's twenty-five-member cabinet and his progressive economic
and political program were approved in early May 1991. But the
outlook for his administration was clouded by the fact that a
general strike had almost completely paralyzed the country and
its economy. Indeed, the situation became so dire that Nano was
ousted and a "government of national salvation" was created, in
which the communists were forced to share power with other parties
in the executive branch for the first time since the end of World
War II. The new government, led by Prime Minister Ylli Bufi, was
a coalition of the communists, the ADP, the Republican Party,
the Social Democratic party, and the Agrarian Party. It took office
in June 1991.
Just days later, also in June 1991, the Tenth Party Congress
of the APL took place in Tiranė. Delegates voted to change the
name of the party to the Socialist Party of Albania (SPA) and
elected a reformist leadership under Nano. Former Politburo member
Xhelil Gjoni gave the keynote address to the congress. He openly
attacked the late dictator, Hoxha, and even went so far as to
criticize Alia. His speech was a milestone for the Albanian communists
and signified the end of the Stalinist line pursued by the party
until that time. The new program adopted by the party stressed
the goal of making a transition to a modern, democratic socialist
party.
Alia also gave a speech at the party congress, in which he, too,
sanctioned a significant reform of the party. But it appeared
as though he were under a political shadow. By July 1991, he had
come under severe attack from various political quarters. Serious
and highly damaging allegations were made by several of Alia's
former associates. One detractor charged that Alia had given orders
for police to fire on unarmed demonstrators in February 1991,
and others openly questioned his claims to have started the process
of democratization in Albania. The campaign against Alia was apparently
designed to discredit him and force him to step down.
In response, Alia made a great effort to portray himself as a
real reformist. In early August 1991, he addressed the nation
on television to talk about the attempted coup in the Soviet Union.
He said that Mikhail S. Gorbachev's ouster only encouraged all
kinds of dictators and he deplored the actions of the selfdeclared
Soviet State Committee for the State of Emergency. The subsequent
defeat of the Soviet coup was described by Alia and others as
a victory for the forces of reform.
An earlier sign that the government was making an attempt to
break with the nondemocratic traditions of the past was the announcement
in early July that the notorious Sigurimi, the Albanian secret
police, had been dissolved and replaced by a reformed security
organization (see Security Forces, ch. 5). The new institution,
the National Information Service (NIS), was to be far more attentive
to individual rights than its predecessor had been. The move to
disband the Sigurimi and form the NIS coincided with a steep rise
in crime and a wave of Albanians fleeing to Italy, an exodus that
the NIS was unable to stem. The refugee problem reached epidemic
proportions in August 1991, with 15,000 Albanians seeking asylum
in Italy; most were later returned to Albania.
In many respects, Alia was a political survivor. He had managed
to remain a key political figure throughout several political
crises. Although he had some genuine concerns for stability and
continuity, he was not inflexible. He changed in response to the
circumstances and accommodated the demands of the reformers. Nonetheless,
with Albania in the throes of a grave economic crisis, Alia had
to face challenges that he could not surmount. After the collapse
of the coalition government in December 1991 and the ADP's landslide
victory in the spring 1992 general election, he resigned as president
on April 3, 1992. On April 9, the People's Assembly elected ADP
leader Sali Berisha as Albania's new head of state.
Data as of April 1992
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