On the 26th anniversary of the Democratic Party, party leader Basha announced his program for the further modernization and democratization of the party ahead of the 2017 parliamentary elections. After previously promising that 35% of the parliamentary candidates would consist of members from the youth movement of the Party, Basha now announced a limitations of all mandates of the party leaders to a two-year term, and the full democratization of the internal election process. On 18 February 2017 members of the Democratic Party and other opposition parties, under the leadership of Basha pitched a giant tent outside the Prime Minister's office in Tirana after thousands of protesters rallied to demand free elections and a technocrat government. The opposition protest further escalated into a larger political conflict. The Democratic Party and its allies refused to register to take part in the June 18 general election, until the government will accept their conditions to secure a free and democratic election. The party's headquarters is in Tirana, 50m from the Albanian parliament. The "Rilindja Demokratike" newspaper shares the building with the Democratic Party. After the Albanian parliament elections of 2009 the Democrats won 67 MPs. The current list as of September 2011:  After the Albanian parliament elections of 2013 the Democrats won 45 MPs. The current list as of September 2013:  In the general elections of 2017 DP won 43 out of 140 seats in parliament coming second after only SP and being the main largest party of the opposition of Albania and its leader, Lulzim Basha the leader of opposition. As of May 2019 the opposition MPs consisting of DP, SMI and other minor parties left their MP mandates accusing the Government of manipulating the elections due to some evidences provided by international media. Since then 17 deputies have accepted the mandate to replace resigned MPs. As of June 2019, the opposition has organised 7 massive national protests and several smaller ones in the capital, Tirana.