Democratic Party Chairman Sali Berisha has congratulated all Albanians everywhere on the eve of the New Year's Eve, accompanying his greetings with strong criticism of the government and Prime Minister Edi Rama, as well as calls for political mobilization of Albanian citizens.
Berisha described the New Year as a year of hope, but at the same time made a negative assessment of 2025, which he described as a year that, according to him, Albanians "did not deserve."
"Dear Albanian citizens! Tonight we await the new year 2026! So I wish you from the bottom of my heart, wherever you are, in family homes, in bars, on trips, in Albania, in the world, in prisons, in hospitals, Happy New Year 2026. The new year for all Albanians, for all people, is a year of hope. But, as is tradition, we cannot part with this year without taking a look at it. The year 2025 was a year that Albanians never deserved. This year finds those citizens who are the worst paid in Europe. Citizens with the fewest tables, because they buy at the most expensive prices, with the lowest salaries, with the lowest pensions. But this year also finds them with the richest directors, ministers, and governors in Europe. Their staggering wealth reaches the wealth of the former dictatorial regimes of Africa 30 years ago. The year that "We left behind a year in which the nation was reduced even more. Thousands of Albanians passed away more than came into this life. The year 2025 was the year of the complete agony of Albanian democracy," Berisha said in his end-of-year video message.
The leader of the Democratic Party accused Prime Minister Rama of election manipulation and links to organized crime, claiming that in the 2025 elections, "the votes of Albanians were stolen" and what he called "the drug empire" was consolidated.
"The drug dictator, using all the means and potential of a state, stole the vote of Albanians and built a majority of crime. The year we left behind was the year of the biggest fires, floods, which did not happen only in Albania, but for us Albanians they came as if in a country without a state. In fact, the year 2025 will also be remembered as the year of the discovery of the biggest thefts in the national history of Albanians by Edi Rama, Lubi Balluku, the Rama family, Erjon Veliaj, his directors in the ministry, in the municipality, officials in general. This was the year in which the mayor of Tirana was imprisoned after 46 protests. The year in which the names and unimaginable thefts of Lubi Balluku with 300 apartments, two yachts, 15 supermarkets appeared in the prosecutor's records. Edi Rama's name in all messages as a determinant of tenders and only in the tunnel of "At least 50 million euros disappeared from the accounts. AKSHI constitutes the biggest corruption scandal not only in Albania, but in Europe. AKSHI, Edi Rama's private garden, was the epicenter of state crime, unheard of before," declared the former prime minister.
Berisha declared that 2026 will be a decisive year for Albanians, which he described as the year of hope and civic unity for change. He stated that the opposition and citizens will engage in restoring free voting, protecting democracy, and confronting the current government.
"So friends, all of this constitutes a strong basis for every Albanian citizen to take action, so with full confidence we can say that 2026 is the year of great hope, for Albania and Albanians. It is the year in which they will unite like never before to give a funeral to the criminal organization called Rilindja and headed by Edi Rama. They will unite like never before to save Albanian democracy, the return of free voting. To save the Albanian family from a destructive law on gender and family. To save Albania from its great downfall. So, this year every Albanian who loves this country, starts as a missionary, starts at the height of a great saving mission ," he added.
At the end of the message, Berisha wished Albanians a Happy New Year, expressing the wish that 2026 will be a year that lives up to their expectations and hopes.