European Union representatives have given a cautious approval to Sunday's elections in Albania (28 June) which passed off largely peacefully, in what was considered a test of the country's readiness to begin negotiations on EU membership.
But with counting still going on yesterday (1 July) in some polling stations (fewer than 100 out of a total of 4,753), the results so far suggest there will be deadlock in the parliament.
Preliminary results reported by Balkan Insight, a website, put the Socialists – led by Edi Rama, the mayor of Tirana – at 40.91% and the centre-right Democratic Party (PD) of Prime Minister Sali Berisha at 40.01%. Both blocs were projected to hold 70 seats each in the 140-seat parliament if the four seats from a centre-left group are added to the 66 won by the Socialists. But the final result could still see several seats being re-allocated and both sides have complained about irregularities.
Shared political goals
The PD and the Socialists share the goal of EU membership, for which the country applied formally on 28 April. Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for enlargement, on Monday (29 June) welcomed “tangible progress” made in the electoral process. A similar statement came from the office of Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief. But both officials reserved final judgment until all votes had been counted.
No major incidents were reported on polling day despite pre-election violence and a history of troubled ballots. Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe noted some procedural violations, but said that voting day was “calm and peaceful”.
The election was seen as an important test for Berisha, who maintained power as president in the troubled 1990s by authoritarian means and returned to power as prime minister in 2005. Albania came close to complete breakdown in 1997 and had to be stabilised by an Italian expeditionary force.
