Rama trounces MAGA-linked opponents to secure historic 4th term in Albania

Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama secured a comfortable majority in Albania’s election, riding a wave of pro-EU sentiment to become the country’s longest-serving democratic leader.

“It is the most humbling experience of my life — and it comes at a historic moment for Albania … as a future member state of the European Union,” Rama, who made the promise of delivering EU membership by 2030 a key feature of his campaign, told POLITICO.

The Socialist Party looks to have secured a commanding majority with around 82 seats — well beyond the 71 needed to govern alone in Albania’s 140-seat parliament.

Although Albania has a multi-party system, power has effectively alternated between two main forces — the Socialists and the center-right Democratic Party — since the fall of communism in the early 1990s.

The fact the Democrats had hired Chris LaCivita, a Republican campaign maestro who masterminded Donald Trump’s comeback win in the 2024 U.S. election, didn’t seem to rattle Rama. 

“Hiring LaCivita and thinking you can become Trump is like hiring a Hollywood hairdresser and thinking you’ll become Brad Pitt,” Rama said.

He questioned the Democrats for believing that “just because someone worked for Trump, they carry some kind of magical Trump power by association … in any case, it was a comedy worth watching.”

Votes are still being counted and full preliminary results are expected on Tuesday, but with over 95 percent tallied the outcome is unlikely to change significantly.

The social-media-savvy prime minister spent much of Monday casually posting from Tirana’s Europe House, where preparations are in full swing for the European Political Community summit that will kick off later this week.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa will be traveling to Albania for the sixth edition of the summit — an initiative launched by French President Emmanuel Macron to bring together EU and non-EU countries for talks on security, economic cooperation and regional stability. Also present will be representatives of other countries hoping to join the EU, such as Ukraine and Georgia.

“It is a great honor to welcome our entire democratic continent to Tirana — including Ukraine and my dear friend Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” Rama said.

Western Balkan countries have experience in the long and complex process of preparing for EU membership, with some spending decades tinkering with laws and public institutions seeking to minimize disruption to the bloc upon entry.

Asked whether Albania had any advice for fellow EU aspirant Ukraine, Rama emphasized Ukraine’s unique status in the accession process.

“Albania does not presume to offer lessons to Ukraine. On the contrary, we can only learn from Ukraine — from the price its people are willing to pay for their path toward the West and the European Union,” he said.

Rama thrives in playing the gracious host to Western leaders and reinforcing his main election pledge that he is the only person who can bring Albania to the brink of EU membership within five years.

Meanwhile, the main opposition party, the Democrats — who look to have secured around 52 seats in the parliament — blamed the outcome on what they called the Socialist Party’s entrenched grip on institutions and alleged efforts to sway voters.

“If tens of thousands of people are employed in return for their vote … if the polling stations are surrounded by party loyalists on all sides … then we know what to call these elections,” Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha said in a statement.

Hoping to stage a political comeback akin to Trump’s 2024 return, Albania’s center-right Democratic Party brought on Trump campaign strategist LaCivita to help craft their message and steer their campaign.

LaCivita amplified Berisha’s claims of election manipulation in a post on X, sharing a report from local news channel Syri TV about an alleged Socialist Party vote-buying office located near a polling station in Tirana.

“Here is what stealing votes looks like in Albania..courtesy of the narco govt of edie [sic] rama,” LaCivita’s post said.

Berisha announced that the Democratic Party would organize a protest on Friday evening when leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be in Tirana, “to sensitize the global public opinion about the monstrous crimes of the electoral monster, Edi Rama,” he thundered in a statement.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe election monitoring mission said Monday that the election was conducted in a comprehensive and transparent manner, but noted the Socialist Party’s long tenure in government “created an unfair advantage in power.”

But for Rama, who is basking in his victory, only one thing was important: voter sentiment.

“They have sent a powerful and simple message: ‘We want to finally reach the heights of the European Union — and we can do it only with you, and with the Socialist Party!’”

This article has been updated.