Democracy state and autocratization features in the Republic of Albania

This article examines the Albanian political regime, as a single case study, for the period 2013-2021, as part of the Western Balkans' experience of democratic backsliding, by investigating the framework of factors linked with the formidable challenge posed by the emergence of a hybrid regime of Albania in these years. For the first time in Albania's post-communist history, the incumbent Socialist Party of Albania won for the third time in a row the parliamentary elections of April 2021, thus making the bid for the power of the leading opposition parties much harder. This paper uses country-expert statistical data from V-Dem and qualitative data analyses. The study reveals that the over-reliance on strong leaders, the growing government control over public life, fragmentation of the opposition, its lack of appeal, organization and mobilization, the boycott of the parliamentary mandates, combined with the weakening role of media and distrust of the citizens in democratic institutions, led to the resurgence of the authoritarian mechanisms, making the liberal democratic transformation in Albania an increasingly challenging task

The Changing Relationship between Politics and Voters Parliamentary Election Campaign 2021 in Durrës

This study investigates how political activities affect the political efficiency and political participation in real life among the citizens of the city of Durrës, Albania. Focusing on the parliamentary election campaign of April 25, 2021, this article analyzes the basic concepts of addressing the most important topics for the mass audience and to what extent the data influences voters in the way they vote. This article analyzes how the voter follows the election campaign of political parties and candidates through various forms, face to face, television, online, etc. and the level of issues addressed during the election campaign, how much the demographic context of the voter influences the electoral campaign follow-up, etc. Based on a poll voters conducted after the election, we interpreted these factors to finally identify which of them reflects the greatest weight. For this we examine the candidate’s social media messages and how they are understood by the direct audience. In addition, this study sheds light on the relationship between political activities and political awareness. We conducted a survey with (N = 300). To answer the research questions, regression and correlation models were constructed, laminating the impact of various factors on voter campaign attendance. To complete the analysis framework, the latter is also analyzed in the context of the independent variable. The analysis further includes testing the impact of the new media, political messages, on voter perception and their connection to election campaign follow-up. In addition, social media is a vital platform for network users to participate in real-life political activities. In conclusion, the study findings suggest that online political activities are strongly related to political awareness and political participation. The analysis also shows that politicians use new media for different purposes. The article concludes on the ways in which the political message influences voter behavior by exploiting the effects of social media and how new media has changed the campaigns of political parties

DEMOCRACY STATE AND AUTOCRATIZATION FEATURES IN THE REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA

This article examines the Albanian political regime, as a single case study, for the period 2013-2021, as part of the Western Balkans' experience of democratic backsliding, by investigating the framework of factors linked with the formidable challenge posed by the emergence of a hybrid regime of Albania in these years. For the first time in Albania’s post-communist history, the incumbent Socialist Party of Albania won for the third time in a row the parliamentary elections of April 2021, thus making the bid for the power of the leading opposition parties much harder. This paper uses country-expert statistical data from V-Dem and qualitative data analyses. The study reveals that the over-reliance on strong leaders, the growing government control over public life, fragmentation of the opposition, its lack of appeal, organization, and mobilization, the boycott of the parliamentary mandates, combined with the weakening role of media and distrust of the citizens in democratic institutions, led to the resurgence of the authoritarian mechanisms, making the liberal democratic transformation in Albania an increasingly challenging task