Opposition urges Berisha to open ballot boxes or step down

TIRANA, Dec 6 – Albania’s opposition Socialist Party continued last weekend its set of protests asking for either recount of the vote from a considerable number of ballot boxes of the controversial June 28 parliamentary election or the governing Democrats to step down.
The Socialists pledged to continue their protests nationwide until mid-January and then again hold a big rally in the capital Tirana like that of Nov. 20.
Socialist Party leader Edi Rama accuses Prime Minister Sali Berisha of the Democratic Party of rigging the parliamentary election.
The Socialists lost in the tightest race ever, but have not accepted the result and refuse to enter parliament unless a number of ballot boxes, ruled irregular by election authorities, are opened.
The Socialists, who got 64 seats (another from one of their allies) claim the votes inside would give them victory overall.
Berisha and his two closest allies got 71 seats in the 140-seat parliament and four others were won by the Socialists Movement for Integration of Ilir Meta who have already joined the governing coalition.
The Socialists had given the prime minister a 10-day deadline to recount the ballots or face snap polls. The Socialists, backed by other smaller center-left and center-right opposition parties, decided to proceed with protests after Berisha refused to comply with their demands.
On Friday the G99 party started a series of protests in front of the Albanian National Television building to demand resignation of its executive due to his anti-opposition editorial policy.
On Saturday Rama and a group of mayors from around the country harshly protested the central government interference in their affairs and differentiation in the annual budget.
The Socialists had also urged small businesses to take part saying that the government is trying to collect more money from them with new unfair taxation.
Rama said the protests would spread across the country under the motto “Open Ballot Boxes or Go”.
Berisha insists that opening the ballot boxes would be illegal as that meant turning down the verdicts of the electoral College and other institutions on the votes.