CEC approves first results

TIRANA, July 3 – The Central Election Commission on Wednesday approved the results in the first five electoral zones following the June 23 voting.
That will likely be followed with other decisions in the next days.
There still remains the question whether these decisions taken from the CEC are legal and whether they will be formally accepted by all the political parties.
In April the Socialist Movement for Integration left the government coalition. Following that the governing Democratic Party replaced its member at the CEC with one from another government ally, the Republicans. Then three other members who were nominated in the CEC from the opposition parties resigned, leaving the CEC to operate only with four members of the majority.
If that was not a problem for the management of the polls in general, it is one when it comes to certifying the results that require a qualified majority, or at least a 5-2 voting.
The elections in Albania last week deserve applause in the general management and also the large turnout, more than 53 per cent or some 1.74 million voters.
Most of them rejected Berisha, who has dominated Albania’s political life since the fall of communism 23 years ago.
In general the elections were peaceful and the CEC, with only four members, has the credits for that too.
We should not forget that one opposition supporter was shot dead in the northern city of Lac in the Election Day and a candidate of the ruling Democrats was injured in an exchange of fire close to a polling station.
But the game is not over yet. There are troubling flaws like this with the certification of the results.
Nevertheless Albania appears more stable and EU worthy because of the smooth elections and a peaceful transfer of power.
Berisha even showed a big surprise for the country when he conceded defeat and also stepped down as Democratic Party head, though he will be a member of the new parliament.