Democratic Party of Albania

Democratic Party of Albania
Leader	Sali Berisha
Founded	1990
Headquarters	Tirana
Ideology	liberal conservatism neo-liberalism europeanism
Political position	Centre-right
European affiliation	European Peoples Party (observer)
International affiliation	International Democrat Union, Centrist Democrat International
Colours	Blue
Website
http://www.pd.al/
Politics of Albania Political parties Elections

The Democratic Party of Albania (Albanian: Partia Demokratike e Shqipërisë) is a center-right, Conservative, political party in Albania and the leading party in the governing coalition since the 2005 parliamentary elections. It is an observer member of the European People's Party (EPP) and a full member of the Centrist Democrat International.

It should not be confused with the New Democratic Party.

History

The party was founded in 1990 by Aleksander Meksi, Arben Imami, Azem Hajdari, Edmond Budina, Eduard Selami, Genc Ruli, Gramoz Pashko etc. becoming the first opposition party after they were legalized.

The party came to power in 1992 after winning the 1992 parliamentary election under the leadership of Sali Berisha and Aleksander Meksi and ruled until 1997. The government resigned in 1997 after a civil war nearly broke out and its socialist rivals gained power. It is part of the Union for Victory (Bashkimi për Fitoren) coalition, which received 37.1 percent of the vote in the 2001 elections and 46 members of parliament. In the July 2005 parliamentary elections, the Democratic Party won 56 of the 140 seats and its allies won 18. Two other parties also joined the new coalition (PAA & PBDNJ, 4 and 2 seats). This meant that with a combined total of 79 seats, the Democratic Party and its allies were able to form a government with Sali Berisha becoming Prime Minister. One of his priorities was Albanian integration to NATO, an objective he accomplished in 2009 when Albania and Croatia were accepted as members.

External links

• Official website