Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al/ publishes the unknown history of the elections of December 2, 1945 when out of 108 candidates for deputies who competed on behalf of the Democratic Front for the 11 constituencies that Albania had at that time, the Commander-in-Chief of the National Liberation Army, Colonel-General Enver Hoxha The post of Prime Minister, Minister of People’s Defense, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the Presidency of the Democratic Front, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Secretary General of the Communist Party of Albania, turned out to have received the largest number of votes against, after Olga Plumbi, as out of 17,564 voters in his area in Tirana, 2,151 voted against him. All the results of those elections that were held under the leadership of a Central Election Commission, which consisted of Chairman Andrea Sahatçi, Secretary Andrea Nathanaili, and members Vasil Avrami, Halim Budo, Spiro Stringa, Faik Dishnica and Xhavit Gjata, where from 603,566 voters who were registered on the voting lists, 543,354 voters participated in the voting, which accounted for 90, 02%. Of these voters, 506,319 voted for the Democratic Front candidates and 36,758 votes were cast in the ballot box without a candidate, while 227 votes were cast in favor of an independent candidate. Thus, for the candidates of the Front voted 93.18%, against them 6.77% and 007% for the independent candidate.
A full year and three days after the end of the War, on December 2, 1945, the first post-war parliamentary elections took place in Albania. For the government of Prime Minister Enver Hoxha, who also held the posts of Minister of Foreign Affairs, People’s Defense, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Albania, Chairman of the Democratic Front and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the appointment of the date of the elections in early December, was seen as the most appropriate, for the very internal situation the country was going through, as almost the whole of 1945, passed with numerous political trials, where most of them were executed or imprisoned. former senior officials, politicians, MPs and the military of all Albanian governments, from that of Ismail Qemali to those under Nazi-Fascist occupation.
Debates on the electoral law
From the beginning of November of that year, the Presidency of the “Democratic Front”, which was in fact the Albanian Communist Party, officially announced the opening of the electoral campaign through its organ, the newspaper “Bashkimi” and Radio Tirana, setting December 2 as the date of elections. The electoral draft law on elections was approved by the Antifascist National Liberation Council (KANÇ) chaired by Enver Hoxha and during the approval of that law, there were fierce debates, where many members of KANÇ, the leadership of the Front and candidates for MPs, such as: Shefqet Beja, Suat Asllani, Sami Qeribashi, Gjergj Kokoshi, Riza Dani, Selaudin Toto, etc., opposed the election law, as he was ‘de facto’ only with the Front candidates and left no path for the opposition. At that meeting, Gjergj Kokoshi, who was one of the strongest opponents of that bill, in protest, left the ranks of the Democratic Front and declared his candidacy as independent, being the only candidate outside the Front in the December 2 elections.
The two heads of the Anglo-American missions, Hodgson and Fultz: Create the opposition
Prior to the adoption of the electoral law, the American and British governments, through their representatives in Albania, Generals Jacobs and Hodgson, asked Prime Minister Enver Hoxha to hold free parliamentary elections, as a condition for recognizing the Albanian government. The Americans formally demanded this again from Enver Hoxha on November 10, 1945, already through the head of the US mission, Harry Fultz, and the British, Hodgson, who repeated it to Enver (in his capacity as Prime Minister and Chairman of the Democratic Front). , the request of their government, that in exchange for the establishment of diplomatic missions in the two countries, the Albanian government should ensure free and secret elections, free press and election monitoring by foreign journalists. Regarding this, in his memoirs, Enver writes, among other things: “The Anglo-Americans focused their attention on the creation of the Opposition. This was necessary for them, because the time of the election campaign was approaching. They were associated with reactionary elements and traitors disguised in the Democratic Front, such as: Shefqet Beja, Riza Dani, Gjergj Kokoshi, Selaudin Toto, Sami Qeribashi, Suat Asllani and others. Some of them would instruct them to come out openly at the right moment, while others would continue to stay like the people hiding in the “Trojan Horse”, to release them at the opportune moment to undermine the Front from within. and to hit us suddenly behind the back. This was a broad plan drawn up by London and its ally across the Atlantic. We heard rumors that the reaction was trying to create a party that would come out against the Front program. And as the people say, where there is a voice, it is not for nothing. General Hodgson’s questions in the conversation we had when he came to Albania were not without meaning. He asked me: would any group participate in elections outside the Front? This is what he asked me after that for the political parties, which we had not allowed to be formed. I replied to him: ‘According to the signs so far, Mr. General, there is not and there should not be. And do you know why? Because it is the war of the Albanian people that solved this issue. The opposition got rid of the war, the popular revolution, because it fell into the lap of the invaders and was compromised ‘. After my answer, he asked me: ‘But Mr. Hoxha, at least there were no independent candidates to compete in the election campaign?! I replied: ‘Individuals who do not like the politics of popular power, there may be a general and that is logical. The front in our country includes the vast majority of the Albanian people. This is a great victory for democracy. It is not said that if there was no opposition, there is no democracy. Even this is the broadest democracy, it is the democracy of the majority. After that, the general said to me: ‘I was talking about independent candidates’. I replied that the electoral law allowed anyone to run and it would not be our fault if they did not find 20 people to be in their favor to support them in the elections. After that, General Hodgson said to me: ‘You have no press other than the official one’?! I answered you, that it was true that in our country there was no press other than the official one, but there he had the right to write whoever he wanted, except the enemies of the Albanian people. “What this representative of the external reaction was saying to me diplomatically, no time passed and we were listening to them in other forms, but very aggressive, from the internal reaction”, concludes his testimony Enver Hoxha, regarding the conversation he had with the British General Hodgson, who together with the representative of the American government in Albania, Harry Fultz, asked Enver for free and democratic elections, where the opposition would be represented. Until then, the Albanian government had been recognized only by the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Poland. Unfortunately, despite pressure from Anglo-American government representatives on electoral law and free and secret elections, Enver Hoxha took no steps in this direction, as on November 19, 1945, the Soviet government, through Colonel Sokolov, offered him diplomatic representation. in Tirana. Although the electoral law formally did not prohibit the candidacy of independent MPs, it was almost impossible. Thus, the well-known lawyer Koço Dilo, who tried to appear as such, after a pressure and threats made to you by the State Security and the people of the Front, was forced to resign.
Who were the candidates of the Front?
The electoral law approved by the General Anti-Fascist National Liberation Council (KANÇ), decided that the first post-war Albanian Parliament that would emerge from the December 2 elections, would consist of 108 deputies who would leave the Regions of Tirana, Durres, Shkodra , Berat, Peshkopi, Kukes, Gjirokastra, Korca, Elbasan and Vlora. The list of candidates of the Front consisted mainly of war personalities headed by General-Colonel Enver Hoxha, Lieutenant General Koci Xoxe and three Major Generals: Spiro Moisiu, Myslym Peza and Dali Ndreu. Behind these there were other soldiers who made up the largest number of deputies, such as colonels: Hysni Kapo, Haxhi Lleshi, Kristo Themelko, Islam Radovicka, Shefqet Peçi, as well as some lieutenant colonels. In addition to the military, the list of candidates included some well-known intellectuals, such as: Prof. Skënder Luarasi, Prof. Kol Prela. Prof. Aleksandër Xhuvani, Prof. Sali Mborja, Prof. Sejfulla Malëshova. Prof. Siri Shapllo, Prof. Kadri Baboçi and Dr. Ymer Dishnica, Dr. Enver Sazani, Dr. Petraq Popa and Dr. Medar Pillar. The list of candidates also featured a number of nationalists who were not communists, but who had fought or supported the Front, such as: Colonel Baba Faja Martaneshi, Sheh Karbunara, Baba Fejzo Dervishi, Myslym Peza, Mestan Ujaniku, Hysen Zaloshnja, etc. Out of the 108 candidates of the Democratic Front, there were only two women, Olga Plumbi who was running in Tirana and Liri Gega in Vlora. In the list of potential candidates, the absence of Mehmet Shehu, who was then studying in the Soviet Union at the General Staff Academy, stood out. Most of the Front candidates, with the exception of Enver Hoxha who ran in Tirana, ran in their own cities. Thus, in Tirana, besides Hoxha, there were also: Abdyl Këllezi, Beqir Balluku, Gogo Nushi, Hasan Reçi and Olga Plumbi. In Korça, Koci Xoxe, Pilo Peristeri, Koço Tashko, Kristo Themelko, etc. ran in Durrës, Nako Spiro, Dr. Enver Sazani, Spiro Mojsiu etc., in Vlora Hysni Kapo, Spiro Koleka, Liri Gega, Bilbil Klosi, Shefqet Musaraj etc., in Gjirokastra, Omer Nishani, Bedri Spahiu, Sejfulla Malëshova., In Shkodra Tuk Jakova, Mark Ndoja, Zef Malaj and Gjovalin Luka.
How did the election campaign and elections take place?
The December 2 election campaign opened in early May-November. The only candidates of the Front were subjected to a great propaganda on Radio Tirana and in the newspaper “Bashkimi” which published its candidates with photos and articles every day. Likewise, all the candidates of the Front opened their electoral offices with previously appointed headquarters that consisted mainly of ten people that were published in the newspaper “Union”. Apart from Radio Tirana and the newspaper “Bashkimi” for the candidates of the Front, the whole communist state was engaged with all the propaganda arsenal at its disposal, holding numerous rallies and exerting various pressures to force the people to vote for Front candidates. Under pressure from the Anglo-Americans, Enver Hoxha was forced to allow some foreign journalists from Western countries to follow the elections, such as the correspondent of “Deli-Telegraf”, and others, for whom, in the capacity of Prime Minister, he gave a press conference at the Dajti Hotel, where the government resided. At that conference, after thanking the journalists for their participation, Enver Hoxha gave a summary of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War conducted by the Front, without saying a word about the electoral law and the Communist Party running alone under the guise of the Front. Although the pre-election atmosphere was all controlled by the Front, in many cities and regions of the country, there were different reactions against the policy pursued by the communist government of Enver Hoxha. Thus, in the city of Shkodra, a group of young high school students and seminarians of the Franciscan College, created the anti-communist group “Albanian Union” who distributed leaflets with anti-communist content. Almost all members of this group were arrested a few days before the elections and 5 of them were shot. Likewise, some nationalists who had fled to the mountains, such as Colonel of the Zog Monarchy, Muharrem Bajraktari and General Prenk Previzi, (former Commander-in-Chief of the Albanian National Army in 1943-’44), wrote several protest letters to representatives. westerners who were in Tirana. The election process took place on December 2, under a situation that was completely controlled by the incumbent government. There were two ballot boxes in the polling stations, one representing the Democratic Front and the other its opponents. Voting was done with rubber balls and voters threw the balls into the box they wanted. In that election process there were many abuses because the commissions were only with representatives of the Front and the counting of votes was done without the presence of any opposition. Thus, in many polling stations, mainly in the North, which were called reactionary, the boxes of the Front candidates that remained empty were filled with those who were against them during the counting.
Election result
A few days after the election process, the Central Election Commission consisting of Chairman Andrea Sahatçi, Secretary Andrea Nathanaili, and members Vasil Avrami, Halim Budo, Spiro Stringa, Faik Dishnica and Xhavit Gjata, announced the results. Thus, according to this commission, out of 603,566 voters who were registered in the voting lists, 543,354 voters participated in the voting, which constituted 90.02%. Of these voters 506319 voted for the Democratic Front candidates and 36,758 votes were cast in the ballot box without a candidate, while 227 votes were cast in favor of an independent candidate. Thus, for the candidates of the Front voted 93.18%, against them 6.77% and 007% for the independent candidate. Out of 108 candidates of the Democratic Front, the largest number of votes against was Olga Plumbi in Tirana, who out of 18,242 voters, 2,269 voted against her. After Olga Plumbi, Enver Hoxha received more votes against. Thus, out of 17,564 voters, 2,151 voted against him. Despite these results, the Democratic Front officially announced the won elections and from those deputies was elected a Constituent Assembly which about 40 days later on January 11, 1946 in the hall where today is the Academy of Arts, declared Albania a People’s Republic. /Memorie.al
