TIRANA, July 4 – The Fieri district court sentenced five election commissioners of the ruling Democratic Party in the 2009 parliamentary elections in the village of Ruzhdie in that district to seven months imprisonment and a fine of 450,000 lek (some 3,200 Euros) each. They were accused of election fraud.
Three other opposition Socialist Party commissioners were fined with 150,000 lek (about 1000 Euro) each for abandoning a polling station on the voting day.
The Ruzhdie case was the main one on election fraud from the June 2009 disputed parliamentary elections, which the Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha narrowly won.
An investigation found that the Democratic Party commissioners falsified signatures and filled in ballots for hundreds of voters that were not present on polling day.
The votes from Ruzhdie were not included in the final tally in Fier, after a court challenge from the opposition made them be disqualified as invalid.
Ex-Election commissioners in jail
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