Electoral campaign kicks off

TIRANA, June 1 – Albania’s main political parties officially kicked off their electoral campaigns for the June 28 vote.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha launched his campaign by promising a gathering of women a greater representation in the government.
“The next four years will be the years of the development of the country,” said Berisha. “During my new mandate I will draft a legal framework to support women in opening businesses, increasing their access to labor and the highest echelons of the administration,” he added.
The governing Democrats also held a big rally Monday at Tirana’s main Skanderbeg Square.
In a rally at the University of Tirana campus, Socialist leader Edi Rama called on Albanians to vote for change on June 28.
“I call on you to take part in the change of the country with your vote, a change that goes beyond the left and the right,” Rama said.
Political parties in Albania have launched an electoral campaign for legislative polls to be held on June 28, seen as a major test for the new NATO member and EU candidate.
“These elections are particularly important for democracy in Albania and its integration into the European Union,” Robert Bosch, representative of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission told AFP news agency.
Brussels has also insisted that free and fair polls are of the utmost importance for Albania’s European future.
“It is important for the elections to be free and fair, to respect international norms,” said a statement issued after last week’s meeting in Brussels, the first such held between the EU and Albania’s representatives.
The former communist Balkan state has taken the first small steps down the road towards joining the EU when it submitted its candidacy in April 28. Since the 1st of April the Stabilization and Association Agreement has been in full implementation.
Since the fall of communism in the early 1990s, all elections in Albania have been disputed and marred by incidents.
“We have made our choice: towards the European democracy,” said Berisha in front of the meeting with his rightist Democratic Party female members. Berisha vowed an election victory, noting that women should find their place in the society and in politics alike.
Rama told his supporters gathered in the capital’s University district that the voters, “Ʒill chose between the past and the European future on June 28.” Rama said it was the Student City where major changes in Albania began to unfold 18 years ago. Rama added that he himself was among the organizers of the then protests.
Rama vowed a victory of the leftists, noting that he would be a new prime minister if Socialists secure victory in the forthcoming elections.
Some 3.1 million voters will elect 140 deputies for the future parliament, choosing between 4,000 candidates representing 39 parties and political coalitions.
About 400 international observers will monitor June 28 elections, the OSCE said earlier this month
The countdown to the parliamentary elections began as of May 29, which marked the official start of campaigning in Albania’s crucial elections.
The country’s two largest parties – Democrats and Socialists – marked the formal launch of campaigning in Tirana last Friday.