Opposition in street protest on alleged vote fraud

TIRANA, Oct 10 – Thousands of Albanian opposition supporters held a rally to protest alleged vote rigging by Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s governing Democratic Party. The Socialists are calling for a recount of the ballots from the June 28 parliamentary elections.
The Socialists also started a petition to ask the parliament to create an investigative committee. The petition, said Rama, was signed by at least 10,000 people and soon it would pass the 20,000 figure which makes it obligatory to be implemented.
The rally was also backed by several minor opposition parties and various civil society groups.
The Socialists are boycotting the new parliament and demand an investigation of the June 28 election. The governing Democrats deny there was any vote-rigging.
Berisha’s Democrats and allies control 75 of Parliament’s 140 seats, and the Socialists 65.
In the first of what organizers said would be an ongoing series of protests, Socialist leader Edi Rama attacked Berisha, accusing him of heading a sophisticated conspiracy that shaped the results of the parliamentary elections.
Rama said this is the “launch of a season of protests” and urged people to sign a petition demanding an investigation.
“We want to see our votes, and release them from the pressures of the state,” Rama told the crowd.
“If Sali Berisha will lock up with force the sovereign decision of the majority of Albanians inside ballot boxes, we shall start the unending wave of protest of our people all over Albania,” he said.
According to the Socialist leader, the country would learn the truth about the election if a recount was instituted. Rama has made a new tally of the votes a precondition for his party’s 64 deputies ending their current boycott of parliament.
Slogans “Where is my vote?” and “Open the ballot boxes” were waved on signs or shouted from participants.
Rama accused Berisha of being the reason why Albania does not enjoy free and fair elections. He warned that protests would escalate in other parts of the country if opposition calls go unheard.
“The fate of this battle is not in the hands of those that forced us to be here today, but in our hearts, in our determination to fight for a free and fair poll,” Rama said at the rally held just in front of Berisha’s office in downtown Tirana.
“We want parliament to investigate the June 28 parliamentary election and every illegal element during the election so they will never be repeated,” Rama said.
Not everyone in the party agrees that the elections were stolen.
A group of deputies, headed by former ministers Ben Blushi and Arben Malaj, have contested the boycott and questioned Rama’s leadership, blaming him for what they say was a poorly run election campaign.
Berisha denies the allegations, urging the Socialists shortly before the rally to take their complaints to the prosecutor’s office, and added that reopening the ballot boxes ran contrary to the law.
Rama had said earlier they would agree to return to parliament if they had the leading majority of the investigative committee. Berisha agreed on that but added that the ballot boxes could not be opened again. That was considered by Rama as another abuse of words.
The rally was also criticized by Ilir Meta of the LSI that is part of the governing coalition.
A few former senior politicians of that party took part in the rally but Meta turned down participation as ridiculous.
Foreign election monitors reported improvements over previous ballots but said Albania still failed to fully meet international standards. They urged the opposition to end its parliamentary boycott.
An OSCE/ODIHR report on the parliamentary poll noted tangible progress with regard to the voter registration and identification processes, and in reform of the overall legal framework governing the election.
Although the electoral process was deemed an improvement on previous polls, it still did not meet internationally recognized election standards.