Delegates of the Alliance of Albanians who are loyal to its former leader Ziadin Sela declared that they have removed Arben Taravari from the position of leader of the party. Sela organized a parallel assembly to remove Taravari, after Taravari announced that he decided to support the bloc of Albanian opposition parties in the coming elections – causing a grave threat to the DUI party and its stranglehold on power.

Taravari held an assembly with the delegates loyal to him in Kumanovo earlier this week, and they confirmed his decision to join the other opposition parties. Both factions claim that they have the majority of the delegates, but Sela can also count on the support of the police to take over the party offices.

Taravari responded after Sela’s gathering today, and pointed to DUI official and Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi of orchestrating this meeting and using Sela to divide the party. It’s still not clear how the Alliance vote will split in the elections, but it’s certain that DUI feels threatened by Taravari’s actions.