TIRANA, Feb. 2 – Albania’s third largest party, the Socialist Movement for Integration has joined forces with the small Christian Democratic Party to provide an official platform to the main opposition Democratic Party faction led by former Prime Minister Sali Berisha to run candidates in the upcoming March 6 municipal by-elections.
SMI, as lead party, asked the Central Election Commission to register the coalition just before the deadline expired.
Berisha’s DP faction, officially known as the DP Provisional Commission for the Re-establishment (PCR), cannot officially run candidates as the CEC ruled it cannot recognize them as DP representatives unless they get a court ruling.
All six candidates to be run by the coalition are a product of primary elections held by DP’s PCR faction on Sunday.
The municipalities that need to have by-elections include large cities like Durres and Shkoder, as well as smaller municipalities – Lushnje, Diber, Rrogozhine and Vore.
The by-elections find the opposition deeply divided and are likely to serve as a testing ground for the two factions of the Democratic Party, with polls showing Berisha’s supporters having an edge over Basha’s.
Some opposition voices had earlier called for unity in order to have a chance at defeating the candidates of the ruling Socialist Party, but they appear to have not been heeded.
The officially-recognized Democratic Party led by Lulzim Basha has indicated it will run its own candidates, which will be revealed Wednesday.
It condemned the SMI-led coalition, calling it more of the same old politics.
DP split into two factions when rival assemblies elected different governing bodies for the party.
Supporters of Berisha and DP incumbent leader Lulzim Basha have been in a political struggle following a campaign by Berisha to take over the party after being expelled by Basha due to Berisha’s public designation by the United States as inadmissible due “to significant corruption.”
Eleven parties have signed up to participate in the elections and election commissions have already been set up, CEC said.
The small Vore municipality will be used to test electronic voting and counting.
The elections are a product of a combination of factors, including resignations, decriminalization law filters and the death of a sitting mayor.
Mayors elected in March will only serve for a year, as normal local elections are scheduled to take place in June 2023.
