The Socialist Party of Albania (, PSSh), also known as simply the Socialist Party (, PS), is a

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

political party in Albania. It is the successor to the

Party of Labour of Albania The Party of Labour of Albania (PLA), also referred to as the Albanian Workers' Party (AWP), was the ruling and sole legal party of Albania during the communist period (1945–1991). It was founded on 8 November 1941 as the Communist Party of ...

, which reconstituted itself under its current name on 13 June 1991 after the

fall of communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...

in an effort to adapt to the new political landscape. The PS is an associate of the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...

and a member of the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

History

Established in 1991, the Socialist Party of Albania emerged in the aftermath of the

fall of communism in Albania The fall of communism in Albania, the last such event in Europe outside the Soviet Union, started in December 1990 with student demonstrations in the capital, Tirana, although protests started in January that year in other cities like Shkod ...

that had dominated Albanian politics since the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The dissolution of the People's Socialist Republic prompted a reevaluation of political ideologies and a quest for democratic governance, paving the way for the rise of multiple political entities. The roots of the Socialist Party can be traced back to the

under its founder

Enver Hoxha Enver Halil Hoxha ( , ; ; 16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanian communist revolutionary and politician who was the leader of People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was the Secretary (titl ...

, which had been the ruling party for over four decades. Hoxha's successor

Ramiz Alia Ramiz Alia (; 18 October 1925 – 7 October 2011) was an Albanian politician serving as the second and last leader of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania from 1985 to 1991, serving as First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania. He ...

was forced to introduce limited reforms in the late 1980s. On 11 December 1990, Alia announced that the PPSh had given up its monopoly of power. The PPSh won the 1991 Albanian Constitutional Assembly election, the first free elections held in the country in almost 80 years. By this time, it was no longer a Marxist–Leninist party. At an extraordinary congress on 10–13 June 1991, the PPSh voted to change its name to the PS in an effort to adapt to survive in the new system.

Fatos Nano Fatos Thanas Nano (; born 16 September 1952) is an Albanian socialist politician who served as Prime Minister of Albania in 1991, from 1997 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2005. He was the first leader and founder of the Socialist Party of Albania and ...

, a man from the

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the i ...

, was elected the new chairman. Nano helped to reform the old Communist party and made it a member of the

. A faction of the party, led by

Ilir Meta Ilir Rexhep Meta (; born 24 March 1969) is an Albanian former politician who served as President of Albania from 2017 to 2022. Previously Meta served as Prime Minister from 1999 to 2002 and he was Speaker of the Parliament of Albania from 2013 ...

, split away from the PS in 2004 and formed the

Socialist Movement for Integration The Freedom Party (, PL), formerly known as the Socialist Movement for Integration (, LSI), is a social democratic political party in Albania. The party was formed on 6 September 2004, when Ilir Meta defected from the Socialist Party of Albania ...

(''Lëvizja Socialiste për Integrim'', LSI). On 10 October 2005, Nano resigned as the chairman of the PS after losing the

2005 Albanian parliamentary election 5 (five) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 Digit (anatomy), digits ...

, and was succeeded by

Edi Rama Edi Rama (born Edvin Kristaq Rama; 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, artist and writer who has been serving as the 33rd and incumbent prime minister of Albania since 2013 and chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005. He was M ...

. Under Rama's lead, the PS formed the ''Alliance for a European Albania'', which united several political parties. The alliance won the

2013 Albanian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Albania on 23 June 2013. The result was a victory for the Alliance for a European Albania led by the Socialist Party and its leader, Edi Rama. Incumbent Prime Minister Sali Berisha of the Democratic Party-le ...

, thus returning the Socialists to the government after 8 years. The Socialist Party, now running alone, again won the 2017 election and the 2021 election, winning 74 seats in both of them and is thus currently able to rule Albania alone, although it is externally supported by the Social Democratic Party in parliament.

Political positions

As a party in Albania, the Socialist Party of Albania is described as

and

. In its 2013 party platform, the party has pledged to replace the

flat tax A flat tax (short for flat-rate tax) is a tax with a single rate on the taxable amount, after accounting for any deductions or exemptions from the tax base. It is not necessarily a fully proportional tax. Implementations are often progressi ...

with a

progressive tax A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases. The term ''progressive'' refers to the way the tax rate progresses from low to high, with the result that a taxpayer's average tax rate is less than the ...

, and also supports

universal health care Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized a ...

. Party leader

has indicated that he supports

LGBT rights in Albania Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Albania face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents, although LGBT people are protected under comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation. Both male and female same-sex s ...

. The party is also

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...

, supports the

accession of Albania to the European Union Albania is on the current agenda for future enlargement of the European Union (EU). It applied for EU membership on 28 April 2009, and has since June 2014 been an official candidate for accession. The Council of the European Union decided in ...

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

membership, and considers

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

"Albania's main strategic partner and ally". Rama has also said that he strives to follow the

Third Way The Third Way is a predominantly centrist political position that attempts to reconcile centre-right and centre-left politics by advocating a varying synthesis of Right-wing economics, right-wing economic and Left-wing politics, left-wing so ...

approach of former British prime minister

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

Organisation

Logos

The current logo is based on the

fist and rose The fist and rose, sometimes called the rose in the fist or fist with a rose, is an emblem used or formerly used by a number of Left-wing politics, left-wing and Centre-left politics, center-left parties and political organizations around the wo ...

logo in the version created by

José María Cruz Novillo José María Cruz Novillo ( Cuenca, 1936) is a Spanish sculptor, engraver, painter and designer. Cruz Novillo began painting in his native town in 1950 and in 1958 moved to Madrid.. He designed many logos. Among them, that of the newspaper El ...

for the

Spanish Socialist Workers Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in government longer tha ...

in 1977. The PS logo is used without official consent and agreement with PSOE. Partia Socialiste.svg, 2013–2023

Party leaders

Electoral performance

Parliamentary elections

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Socialist Party Of Albania Socialist Party of Albania Socialist parties in Albania Socialism in Albania