First opinion polls show tight race in Durres, strong showing for independent candidate in Tirana
TIRANA, May 13 – Despite the call last week from the Central Election Commission head telling the parties to respect the official campaign period or face fines, political groupings have taken the campaign into full gear holding rallies and meetings across the country.
The Socialist-led coalition of Prime Minister Edi Rama and the opposition Democratic Party of incumbent Tirana Mayor Lulzim Basha are holding daily activities promising better lives, thousands of jobs and blaming all the country’s ills on each other.
The negative language escalated into a violent incident in southern Kolonja region, where an activist of the Socialist Party threw a chair at Basha at an event organized by the Democratic Party. He missed Basha but hit an elderly man, who was briefly hospitalized.
The attacker was arrested. He told police he was throwing the chair at his uncle who had jumped ship and joined the Democrats, not Basha.
The Democratic Party said the attack was clearly on Basha and accused the Socialists of orchestrating it. They showed proof the attacker was a Socialist activist, which included a photo of the man with former Socialist Prime Minister Pandeli Majko.
The June 21 elections are being primarily contested between Rama’s Socialists and his main partner the Socialist Movement for Integration, LSI, of the Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta and Basha’s Democrats.
There are also scores of independent and smaller party candidates, but the strong political machinery of the larger groupings and voter apathy will likely result only in mayors from the two main coalitions, according to political analysts.
The top races are being fought in the two largest municipalities, Tirana and Durres.
The first public poll released by the Ora News television channel and IPR Marketing showed about 20 percent of the voters were still undecided in Tirana. It gave the Socialists’ Erion Veliaj the lead at 45.5 percent, followed by the Democrats’ Halim Kosova at 35.5 percent. Independent candidates Gjergj Bojaxhi and Sazan Guri came in at 12.5 and 4 percent each, the strongest showing for independent candidates in Tirana since the fall of communism.
In Durres, the numbers were within the margin of error as incumbent Socialist Vangjush Dako goes head to head with Grida Duma of the Democratic Party at 51 to 49 percent each.
