Greek newspaper Kathimerini has dedicated another article to the elections in Himare, where it claims that prime minister Edi Rama's government intimidated local businessmen by blackmailing them through IKMT.
The Greek newspaper says that before the elections, "ethnic Greek" businessmen were called by IKMT that there would be checks on illegal construction. It is worth saying that the paper does not present any facts about the claims it raises.
The article states that in Himare before and during the elections, taxes and health directories were also established, as well as counterterrorism.
Full article:
The election for mayor of Himara, in southern Albania, to replace jailed ethnic Greek Fredi Beleri, was reportedly marred by the influence that Prime Minister Edi Rama's government appears to have used to support its elected candidate, Vangjel Tavo.
Days before the election, ethnic Greek businessmen received notices that they would be inspected by the notorious IKMT agency for possible construction violations. These businessmen had supported the then-elected mayor Beleri in the May 2023 elections. The semi-illegality that affects virtually every building in Himare is what makes IKMT inspection so important. Building and repair permits are linked to the status of ownership. Since the beneficiaries have not yet secured many ownership titles, IKMT checks always come with large fines and demotions of arbitrary objects. The director of the service in Vlora district (belonging to Himara) was until recently an Albanian who appears in a video saying in front of the then candidate and now the new mayor Tavo that on August 4 they would vote him "who on the 5th will stop speaking Greek [in Himara]".
IKMT was just one of the weapons deployed by the Rama government to help his chosen candidate. Tax and health directories and the ministers of security and counterterrorism were deployed in Himare in the days leading up to the election.
Tavo confronted in an interview for Kathimerini against the label of traitor assigned to him. "How did I betray Hellenism? "I will be judged by the judgement of the people in the past," he said. "In my career, I have clashed with everyone, for the interests of the minority. I never put my personal interests above those of my region," he said.