Petro Koçi withdraws from the race for MP: I'm not doing it out of cowardice, nor fear of failure...

2025-03-11 09:22:20Politikë SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Petro Koçi withdraws from the race for MP: I'm not doing it out of

SP MP Petro Koçi

SP MP Petro Koçi has announced that he will not compete on the lists for another mandate as an MP in the May 11 parliamentary elections, following Edi Rama's announcement that MPs with one mandate will be on an open list.

In a lengthy reaction on Facebook, he explained the reasons for this decision.

Petro Koç's reaction:

Dear Ogerta, dear fellow socialist MPs of our Tirana,

I have an automatic moral, political and social obligation to inform you of my position regarding the process of nominating our party's candidates for deputies;

1. I will work as hard as I can and wherever my feet take me for the victory of the SP in the May 11 elections. Fortunately, I walk and climb the stairs faster and without getting out of breath compared to dozens of others who are younger in political or biological age.
2. I will not be on the representative list of candidacies for MPs, not for any political impudence, fear of personal failure or abandonment of the spirit of solidarity, but because unlike all of you, I am the only one who does not have the chance to start on equal terms because I do not have an area of political electoral responsibility in charge.
3. After a non-commercial campaign in the last local elections in the capital, together with the organizational structure of the area, we brought the Kombinat first, with a result that brought the electoral stake to 60% for the SP.
4. The appointment of Blendi Gonxha as political leader in the area was a wise and deliberate choice because the major problems of the Kombinat, such as the consequences of the earthquake, the reconstruction process or the impact of major projects on the ring road or the Lane, required a dedicated and competent executive power to coordinate solutions. I highly appreciate his electoral work and believe that the Kombinat will once again be first in the electoral race.
5. However, this change in leadership responsibility brought about a non-transparent shift and a lack of clear definition of my function in the area. My involvement in the party's organizational activity was cut off like a knife, never being informed about the daily calendar of meetings and conferences, except in cases where this calendar depended on the headquarters and the news arrived through the network in the MPs' Whatsapp group. I do not know if this situation was intentional or was the result of some petty intrigue. However, I forgive anyone who, intentionally or unintentionally, has a hand in this sin, which remains unimportant for interests beyond me.
6. I remain grateful to Edi Rama for my re-involvement in high political responsibilities that might not have happened without his tolerance after the clashes of 2008, an involvement that began with the welcome at the rallies against Berisha's government after the 2009 elections and continued with close cooperation in the fight against corruption in the protest of January 21, 2011, with the stolen elections in Tirana that year, the 2013 elections and then culminated with the high duties entrusted to me as Deputy Minister of Defense and MP in the 2021 elections. I hope that I have repaid this trust at the right height. I say this to you to prove that I am not one of those who think that the Socialist Party owes them anything. On the contrary!
7. I use this public communication to call on any colleague, MP or not, who has serious investigative problems with SPAK to not run in these elections. I am confident that any person whose investigative process will be interrupted or who will be able to be acquitted later, the SP will give them the due credit in the future.
8. These elections are of national historical importance, especially in 2 aspects, the most important of which is European integration, which would be interrupted and postponed if the Coalition of Major Crimes had a chance to win the elections, and equally important is the fate of justice reform. Even if we are paying with our own skin, the new justice is guaranteed only by our Socialist Party. I emphasize this to remind the campaign leaders to blindly respect the law so that we do not give any chance to the mouths of the major criminals of the political transition.
With respect and in readiness for our electoral work.
Petro.