Albania votes calmly, peacefully

TIRANA, June 28 – Albanians on Sunday started voting in parliamentary elections seen as a key test of the country’s political maturity as it eyes European Union membership.
Voting started at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and is to end 7 p.m. (1500 GMT).
Albania is under international pressure to make sure Sunday’s vote is fair and free of the reports of fraud that have marred previous elections.
Both the EU and United States have stressed Albania must do better this time.
Some 500 international observers and about 3,000 local officials monitored Sunday’s election.
Polls had shown Prime Minister Sali Berisha of the governing Democratic Party neck-and-neck with Edi Rama, the mayor of Tirana and leader of the main opposition Socialist Party.
Their political platforms are similar, with both pledging to fight poverty and take Albania closer to the EU.
About 3.1 million Albanians were eligible to vote in some 4,800 polling stations in the country’s seventh parliamentary election since the fall of communism in 1990. Voters would choose 140 lawmakers among 4,300 candidates of 34 political parties.
In the past few weeks, three people have been killed in what local media have said were politically motivated attacks, although that remains unclear.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha cast his ballot in downtown Tirana, telling reporters that, “Ʈo Albanian will lose in this free and fair election in which AlbaniansŢ will prove they are ready to enter the EU.
Rama, the socialist leader and Tirana mayor, called on Albanians to vote, “ƴo change history.” Rama had campaigned on his nine-year record in leading the capital, saying he fought corruption while improving salaries and creating jobs.
“All our international partners are watching our maturity and the will to become an integral part of the EU, in which holding free and fair elections are a precondition,” Rama said after casting his ballot in the capital.