TIRANA, May 27 – Political parties in Albania have kicked their mayoral electoral campaigns into full gear, making promises of thousands of jobs, tens of expensive projects, including new schools and infrastructure.
In addition to daily events held by local candidates, party leaders are traveling around the country, blaming all the country’s ills on the other side of the political spectrum while taunting their own successes.
Independent analysts have expressed anger at unrealistic promises being thrown around the campaign trail. The leader of one of the ruling coalition parties, Ilir Meta, for example, said 500 new jobs would come to the northeastern town of Kukes once the small airport there opens up to international airlines.
Analysts note Tirana’s airport, the sole international gateway to Albania which processes 1.8 million travelers a year, has only 275 employees. It also has exclusive rights to all international flights into the country, something the government wants to change but has been unable to do so.
The largest mayoral race in terms of number of voters and political importance is Tirana, where Erion Veliaj of the governing Socialists runs against Halim Kosova of the main opposition Democratic Party.
Veliaj, a former Welfare Minister and activist, is ahead in the polls, but he appears less popular with voters than the large coalition he represents, indicating many Socialist voters are unhappy with Prime Minister Rama’s choice of Veliaj as a candidate.
Kosova, a plain-spoken gynecologist and short-term former Health Minister, is second in the polls and is actually more popular with voters than the party he represents, according to the latest poll numbers.
They are also running against three other independent candidates, including Gjergj Bojaxhi, an Albanian American business executive running third in the polls at more than 10 percent by attracting educated middle class Albanians angry with the failures of the political establishment.
These elections are a key test of the parties and the would-be mayors, which under the recent administrative reform will have a far larger area to govern. The number of municipalities has been shrank to 61 from 384 by merging many rural municipalities with nearby towns and cities.
Voters will also choose the local municipal councils in the elections. There have been complaints by voters they did not have a say in the selection of the candidates, who were all chosen by the main party leaders with little public discussion.
