In a smooth electoral process and rotation of power, Socialist-led coalition wins 84 seats out 140 in parliament. Incoming Prime Minister Edi Rama holds conciliatory victory speech, says hard work needed to meet challenges ahead
TIRANA, June 26 – Albanian voters have handed a landslide victory to the Socialist-led coalition, guaranteeing a rotation of power that is proving to be the smoothest one since the fall of communism more than two decades ago, and one that Albanians hope will act as a springboard for the country’s future membership in the European Union.
Edi Rama, the Socialists’ nominee for prime minister, held a reconciliatory victory speech Tuesday night, promising quick implementation of his coalition’s program to fight crime and corruption, increase employment and improve services such as healthcare and education.
Rama’s speech was followed the next evening by a concession speech by incumbent Prime Minister Sali Berisha who congratulated the winners, took responsibility for the loss and resigned from all party functions after 22 years at the helm, marking an end of an era in Albanian politics, which Berisha had dominated since the fall of communism in the early 1990s.
Socialist supporters on foot and in cars braved a heat wave to celebrate in the city center, waving purple party flags as data by the country’s election commission showed the Socialist-led coalition in a hefty lead over its rival.
The new 140-member parliament will have 84 members from the Socialist-led coalition and 56 from the Democratic-led group. No independent parties were able to make the threshold. The Socialist-led coalition owes much of its gains from the last election to junior coalition partner Socialist Movement for Integration, led by Ilir Meta, which received 16 seats in parliament in the election.
Both Rama, 48, and Berisha, 68, had campaigned on the pledge of gaining EU candidate status for Albania. Albania has already made strides in joining international institutions נin 2009, it became a member of NATO.
“Let’s continue together as a country and as a nation our effort toward the place we deserve נthe family of the united Europe,” said Rama in his victory speech in front of hundreds of supporters at party headquarters.
But that would require swift and sweeping reforms in areas highlighted by the EU as the country’s enduring weak points, including the judiciary, organized crime, and widespread corruption.
The Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International ranks Albania 113 of 176 countries on its Corruption Perceptions Index, while the country’s annual economic output is only $12 billion. Wedged between crisis-hit Greece and Italy, Albania is heavily reliant on remittances from its migrant workers and has suffered since recession swept across southern Europe.
With growth muted, the new government will be tasked to slash budget deficits, modernize production and agriculture and breathe life into the emerging tourism industry.
Rama warned his supporters that the joy of the moment will not create “jobs, better education and health systems, or new roads.”
“This victory is not the arrival but only the start. That change will not come overnight and easily. All together we should work and sacrifice to make it happen,” he said.
Sunday’s election was marred by a deadly shooting outside a polling station in northern Albania. However, international observers cited significant improvements from previous polls, but said the election process had suffered from intense party rivalry.
However, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule praised the “overall orderly manner” of the Albanian elections. They added that once the results are certified, that a new government is formed quickly in order “to address the immediate challenges ahead to ensure that the country’s reform agenda is vigorously pursued.”
Because of Albania’s voting system, the popular vote nationally does not directly translate into the number of seats each party will get in the 140-member Parliament.
Parliamentary seats are awarded on a party’s share of the vote in each of 12 districts. For example, a party which won 50 percent of the vote in a 12-seat district could expect to win six seats. In addition it favors parties that join a large coalition. Despite gaining many votes, the New Democratic Spirit of former President Bamir Topi, for example, failed to get a single seat nationwide, because it ran alone instead of a coalition.
The other party running alone, the nationalists of the Red and Black Alliance performed very poorly and they too failed to win a single seat in parliament.
Rama’s conciliatory speech
In an unusual gesture in the ever-squabbling Albanian politics, the Socialist nominee for prime minister, Rama, thanked his predecessor, Prime Minister Berisha of the Democratic Party, “for every good thing, which history tomorrow may evaluate with a higher objectivity than mine today.”
“I wish him all the best in his private life,” he said.
The mere fact that he delivered such thanks in his victory speech is a novelty in Albanian politics which is usually deeply divisive and negative.
He also promised to work hard with allies to meet challenges ahead.
“I will be your prime minister and your chief servant,” Rama told a crowd of supporters in front of the Socialist Party headquarters on Tuesday evening when the opposition Socialist Party coalition had consolidated its victory after more than 90 percent of nationwide ballots had already been counted. “Today, you, the people of Albania, decided to charge me and our national Renaissance team together and inseparably with our strategic partners of the Socialist Movement for Integration and other allies, this great responsibility,” said Rama.
Jubilant Socialist party supporters drove around Tirana’s main square near the Socialists’ headquarters, honking their horns and waving party flags from the windows.
Sunday’s election was seen as a key test in the country’s ambition to join the European Union.
“This victory is not the finish line but only the start. That change will not come overnight and easily. All together we should work and sacrifice to make it happen,” Rama said.
Results waiting certification
With 98 percent of ballots counted from Sunday’s election, the election commission said the Socialists’ coalition had won around 53 percent of the vote. Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s Democratic Party-led coalition trailed with 36 percent נa full 12 percentage points less than four years ago.
Preliminary calculations from local analysts give the Socialists’ coalition 84 seats in the 140-seat parliament.
But a pre-election dispute over the country’s Central Election Commission could complicate the final stages of the vote count. Three of the commission’s seven members pulled out of the body in April in a dispute over Berisha’s replacement of a commission member. With only four members currently in the commission, a legal issue could arise as at least five votes are needed to certify the election results.
There are some officials in the Socialist Party saying the that the resigned CEC members may return, or that the Electoral College may do the certification of the results.
The results, once certified, are a crushing blow for Berisha and his party, which will likely need years to rebuild itself. Berisha, who said he is leaving all party posts, taking responsibility for the less, had been prime minister for eight years.
Before his initial election to the post in Sept. 2005, he served as the country’s president from 1992-97, and was elected to a second term before the government collapsed a few months after the election in the chaos caused by the collapse of pyramid investment schemes in which many Albanians lost their life savings.
International representatives call for next steps to be taken quickly
EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule praised the “overall orderly manner” of the Albanian elections.
But they added that once the results are certified, that a new government is formed quickly in order “to address the immediate challenges ahead to ensure that the country’s reform agenda is vigorously pursued.”
“We would like to congratulate the citizens of Albania for the parliamentary elections of June 23 which took place in an overall orderly manner,” they said in a joint statement. “Now it is important that the remaining stages of the election process are conducted in line with EU and international standards. We call on all political parties to act in a constructive spirit for the good of the Albanian people.”
They added that once the results are certified, “we encourage a timely formation of the government to address the immediate challenges ahead to ensure that the country’s reform agenda is vigorously pursued and the European integration process can gain renewed momentum.”
Turnout was 54 percent of some 3.3 million registered voters, according to CEC estimates. Sunday’s election was the eighth since the fall of communism in 1990.
