No clear winner

TIRANA, July 3 – The June 28 election did not change much from the last six, with all political parties accusing each other of vote-rigging and voting manipulation. The counting has not ended and yet both main coalitions are claiming victory.
The elections were seen as a test as to whether the country has embraced democratic standards and as a stepping stone to the country’s admittance to the European Union for whcih it applied at the end of April right after gaining membership to NATO.
Voters turned out in big numbers to cast their ballots; 1.55 million or some 150,000 more than four years ago (50 percent of voters) according to preliminary forecast.
It was a battle between the two biggest parties, the governing Democrats and the challenging Socialists. Many of the international organizations monitoring the election agreed on one point; that while there were improvements compared to previous years, the standards had not been met and many irregularities were recorded.
Problems cited included irregularities in procedures and a widespread phenomenon of ‘family voting.’ Family voting is an exploitable loophole in the election rules that allows vision impaired – usually elderly – voters to have an accompanying ‘family member’ cast their ballot on their behalf.
Preliminary results of Albania’s last weekend parliamentary poll gave the governing Democrats 71 seats, enough to govern alone. The opposition has threatened to hold street protests, according to the Central Election Commission.
Sali Berisha’s Democratic Party won 46.69 percent, or 71 seats in the 140-seat parliament while Tirana Mayor Edi Rama’s opposition Socialists have 45.36 percent, or 65 seats. The SAI coalition received 5.56 percent, or four seats, spokesman Leonard Olli said late Friday, adding that 49 ballot boxes were still to be counted.
Socialists were angry after they were stripped of one seat in Fier district, 100 kilometers (62 miles), south of the capital, Tirana, when the counting had not finished and the seat was passed on to the Democrats, taking their number to 71.
Berisha conceded Thursday his victory was not decisive and that he was open to coalition talks with smaller parties to gain enough seats in parliament to create the government.
Both main parties ran on a similar platform, pledging to lift Albania out of poverty and secure its EU accession.
Election authorities have first to count the remaining and disputed ballot boxes before calculating the votes to give final results, likely to take place next week.
The Balkan country has been under intense international pressure to make sure the June 28th vote was fair and free of the reports of fraud that have marred the six previous polls since communism ended in 1990. Albania became a NATO member April 1 and is seeking to join the 27-nation EU.