TIRANA, June 28 – The Democratic Party candidate, Isa Sakja, has narrowly won the mayoral by-election race in Kavaja, returning the Democrats to power in their former stronghold after six years of Socialist rule under Mayor Elvis Roshi.
Sakja won by just 28 votes over Dorjan Murati of the Socialist Party and Maksim Kona of the Socialist Movement for Integration.
In his victory speech Mayor-elect Sakja thanked everyone who voted him, the people of Kavaja, and promised to unite the electorate and work for every single citizen.
The Democratic Party sees the Kavaja victory as a silver lining it what was otherwise a disastrous election outcome for the center-right party at the national level, scoring the worst electoral result in its 27-year history
“Wonderful news from the capital of freedom and democracy,” said DP leader Lulzim Basha on social media. “My most heartfelt congratulations to the citizens of Kavaja for defeating crime, corruption and the terror of gangs.”
The Kavaja mayoral by-elections were held on the same date as Albania’s general parliamentary elections after being delayed until the opposition and ruling parties reached as deal to improve the electoral process.
The new mayor will get to govern for two years, the part of the mandate left by former Socialist Mayor Elvis Roshi, who was kicked out of office for having criminal convictions outside Albania.
Roshi was frequently targeted by the opposition as poster child of what the opposition has said are ties between the Socialist government and the criminal world.
Albania’s parliament passed legislation to address the matter under pressure from the opposition and international partners.
