The Central Election Commission ended reconsideration of the contested and miscast votes upholding government candidate as victor with 95 votes more than the opposition rival. Opposition slams the prolonged election process and accuses the governing Democrats of manipulating the process, also hinting they may look for repeat elections in the capital. Meanwhile the international community is tired of calling on Albanian political groupings to give an end to the election process, sit down and repair the system for the future, or forget about integration into the European Union.
Tirana Times
TIRANA, June 23 – The Central Election Commission completed checking of some 1,800 ballot boxes for all contested or wrongly cast ballots giving governing Democrats Lulzim Basha again a win, this time with 95 votes more than the opposition Socialist party leader, Edi Rama.
It is not clear how the opposition will behave after this, more protests, will it accept the result, or do what?
Last weekend the election authorities resumed checking hundreds of ballot boxes in the capital Tirana as the Electoral College had decided.
But the opposition Socialist Party slams the process daily saying it is being used as another manipulative effort from the governing Democratic Party to win the electoral race for the capital Tirana. The Electoral College decided earlier this month that the election authorities should check all the remaining ballot boxes in Tirana, and reconsider either contested or invalid votes cast wrongly in other boxes.
The process started last weekend and continues together with a daily debate at the counting offices and outside.
The opposition says that it is strange that 117 boxes initially chosen for recount happened to put the Demcoratic candidate 81 votes ahead the opposition leader Edi Rama. This suspicion implies manipulation by the Democratic Party. Rama had been declared the preliminary winner by a margin of 10 votes in the initial count.
The opposition Socialists also accuse the Democrats of deliberately placing 8,000 people to vote for their party two different counties.
Meanwhile Rama has started meetings in other towns, likely to warm up supporters in the country for another possible series of anti-government protests.
It is not clear how many days the election authorities will continue the reopening of ballot boxes.
There is a strong pressure from Europe for the process to be completed, and for the political parties to respect the laws and the democratic rules.
Yet each side interprets such calls to favor their position and disfavor their opponent.
The one element that is not subject to interpretation is the fact that Albanians are tired of the political deadlock and both political parties.
