Former campaign advisors of President Donald Trump are at work on a new campaign in the Balkans, hoping to tip the scales for the right-wing Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha, who faces off against the highly favored Socialist Party leader and Prime Minister Edi Rama in Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
Former Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita, Trump 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort, and strategist and pollster Tony Fabrizio round out the team backing Berisha, according to the Associated Press. LaCivita has compared Trump and Berisha, saying they are both “unfairly prosecuted and persecuted by a government that has no regard for Democracy.”
When asked by Syri TV’s Cim Peka why the Albanian election is important for the world, LaCivita said that “one of the things that many of us know in the United States is that the Soros family is very active in politics around the globe, and it’s not just regular politics, it’s destabilizing politics.” LaCivita said that the family thrives “in an environment where the governments are insecure and they found the perfect home unfortunately in Albania, and they found the perfect prime minister in Edi Rama.”
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The Socialist Rama is hoping to win a fourth consecutive term as PM in Sunday’s election on a promise of bringing Albania into the European Union while the country still faces major problems of graft and corruption.
LaCivita explained that calling out Soros’ involvement was important “because it has an impact on Albania’s future.” He said that Berisha’s campaign is “about the Albanian people,” explaining that their “biggest desire is to be able to work, live, and raise a family and have a future and so any time that there are individuals or that there are organizations that want to create an atmosphere that make that difficult, to me they’re the actual enemy and those are the people that we wage campaigns to actually defeat.”
George and Alex Soros’ Open Society Foundations has been very involved in the Balkans and has invested over $131 million in Albania in a period of 18 years.
Requests sent to representatives of the Soros’ Open Society were not returned by press time.
When Fox News Digital spoke to Berisha in April about the impediments he faced in the May 11 elections, he named the sanctions placed against him by the Biden administration for allegations of corruption in 2021. “I’m not able to meet with Albanian Americans, which are so numerous, and in this election, for the first time, they have the right to vote for the party and candidate they prefer in their country of origin,” Berisha explained.
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To date, there appears to be no movement on sanctions against Berisha. In April, the State Department did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions about whether it would consider lifting sanctions against Berisha, and whether the sanctions in place impeded free and fair elections in Albania. A spokesperson told Fox News Digital Thursday that “the Department has nothing to report on this designation at this time.”
Berisha’s race has been fraught by other complications, including being stripped of his legal immunity in December 2023 and held under house arrest until November 2024. Berisha is currently awaiting trial on corruption charges.
Berisha told Fox News Digital that the charges were the product of lawfare leveled against him by Rama and Soros.
Berisha is not the only opposition candidate who has faced charges in the lead-up to elections. Former Albanian president Ilir Meta was also arrested on corruption allegations in October 2024.
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Former Albanian Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations Agim Nesho told Fox News Digital that “May 11 elections are unfolding under intense pressure from the ruling Socialist Party, which has clung to power for over 12 years. The regime stands accused of jailing opposition leaders on fabricated charges, weaponizing state institutions, and silencing dissent in a country where citizens are increasingly afraid to speak freely.”
Nesho claimed that “the Albanian people are being denied the basic democratic rights to organize, vote, and oppose the government without fear. This system of repression, critics say, is supported—either tacitly or directly—by elements of the Biden administration and global actors like Alex Soros, who have worked to undercut the opposition and prevent free and fair elections, much like the political persecution seen in the United States against former President Donald Trump.”
Saying that the “election could mark a turning point,” as “a true grassroots movement is rising—ready to challenge state corruption and restore Albania’s path to freedom, development, and democratic self-determination,” Nesho called “on the Trump administration to closely monitor these elections and send a clear message to Tirana: America is watching.”
Nesho said “the United States must stand firmly on the side of democracy and the rule of law. The Albanian people deserve free elections, not another manipulated outcome enforced through fear and political imprisonment.”
Politico reported that while Rama’s Socialist Party appears to be ahead in polling, the impact Albanians who live abroad being allowed to vote for the first time, and a lack of reliability in polling data may still leave room for Berisha to secure victory and return to office as prime minister.
