Republican Party of Albania
Republican Party of Albania | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Fatmir Mediu |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Headquarters | Tirana |
| Ideology |
National conservatism[1] Pro-Europeanism[2] |
| Political position | Right-wing[2] |
| European affiliation | none |
| International affiliation | none |
| Colours | Blue, White, Yellow |
| National Assembly |
2 / 140 |
| Website | |
| http://www.prsh.al/ | |
The Republican Party of Albania (Albanian: Partia Republikane e Shqipërisë) is a national conservative[1] political party in Albania. It currently holds three seats in the Parliament of Albania.
History
The party was founded in January 1991 under the leadership of the writer Sabri Godo, who was also its first chairman. The party was formed with the backing of the Italian Republican Party.[3] After the Democratic Party, it was the second party to be founded in Albania after the anti-communist revolution in the autumn of 1990. The Republicans chose the American Republican Party as their political role model. They arranged themselves as right of center on the political spectrum, slightly more right-wing than the Democratic Party of Albania.
In the 1992 elections the party received 2.9% of the national vote and won a single seat.[4] They joined a coalition with the Democratic Party, but had little influence on the policies being shaped. The 1996 elections saw the party almost double its share of the vote to 5.9%, winning three seats.[4] After the 1997 uprising, in which the centre-right coalition was overthrown by socialist supporters, the party became an opposition party. In the 1997 elections the party was reduced to a single seat.[4]
Before the 2001 elections, the party joined the Union for Victory Coalition under the leadership of the Democratic Party, which won 46 seats. In the 2005 elections the party received 20% of the vote in the national voting for the proportional seats, putting it in first place. Although it won 11 proportional seats, it failed to win a single constituency seat,[5] resulting in the party only being the third largest in Parliament.[6] For the 2009 elections the party was part of the "Alliance for Changes" coalition. However, it was reduced to a single seat, after seeing its vote share fall to just 2.1% of the national total. In the 2011 local elections the party won a total of 67,039 votes throughout the country, twice the amount they had received in the Albanian parliamentary election, 2009.[7]
Ideology
The Republican Party of Albania has adhered to the agenda of the American Republican Party and therefore its ideology is closely based on conservative, free market and many other right-wing policies. Although its policies are considered to be national conservative it also has several minor factions such as social conservatism and populism which have almost disappeared under the leadership of Fatmir Mediu which has seen more right-wing policies such as national conservatism emerge, as well as several pro-European and pro-NATO policies.
Though the party was originally founded as a conservative, Republican and generally anti-Communist and anti-Monarchist party which wanted reforms to speed up so democracy could be put in place more quickly, and founded as an alternative to the Democratic Party and the Socialist Party, it has usually been aligned with the centre-right Democratic Party because it was bitterly opposed to the Socialists, who they regarded as communists hiding under a more moderate centre-left guise.
Although the party was initially Eurosceptic as it was part of the Eurosceptic group within the European Parliament, Alliance for Europe of the Nations, it has since then changed its stance on Europe and left the group in 2009 after adopting several pro-European and pro-NATO policies.
Parliamentary representation
| Year | Seats | Number of total seats |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 1  | 140 |
| 1996 | 3 | 140 |
| 1997 | 0  | 155 |
| 2001 | – | – |
| 2005 | 11 | 140 |
| 2009 | 1 | 140 |
| 2013 | 2 | 140 |
References
- 1 2 Parties and Elections in Europe: The database about parliamentary elections and political parties in Europe, by Wolfram Nordsieck
- 1 2 "The Albanian Electoral Systems since 1990" (PDF). Albanian Elections Observatory Brief (1). 19 April 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
- ↑ Alan John Day; Roger East; Richard Thomas (2002). A Political and Economic Dictionary of Eastern Europe. Psychology Press. pp. 11–. ISBN 978-1-85743-063-9. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
- 1 2 3 Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, pp139–142 ISBN 9783832956097
- ↑ Republic of Albania: Legislative Elections of 3 July 2005 Adam Carr
- ↑ Nohlen & Stöver, p143
- ↑ "Aleanca per Qytetarin", fiton me 70.890 vota Koha Jonë