Anti-Communist Democrats Quit Albanian Coalition
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TIRANA, Albania — The country’s strongest anti-Communist force said Wednesday that it is quitting the coalition government, a move likely to cause the collapse of the government and early elections.
With the departure of the Democratic Party, the governing coalition is now almost exclusively made up of the renamed Communists, the Socialists.
An all-Socialist government fell last June because of massive strikes and protests.
Democratic Party Chairman Sali Berisha told reporters in Tirana that his party, formed a year ago at the peak of anti-Communist protests, is pulling its seven ministers out of the 21-member Cabinet.
He accused the Socialists under Premier Ylli Bufi of hindering economic and political reforms needed after decades of Stalinist rule by dictator Enver Hoxha and his followers.
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