Slow vote counting and tension

TIRANA, May 12 – The vote polling after the Albanian local elections is very slow.
True there are more ballots to be counted but what is the real reason is almost clear _ games played by both political parties to disrupt the process in places where they note they are not winning.
That prolonged and very tiring and disturbing political fight is focused in capital Tirana, where its Mayor and opposition Socialist party leader Edi Rama is running for his fourth term against former Interior Minister Lulzim Basha of the governing Democratic Party.
It has turned into a play of figures. But at the counting centers there is really high tension and police have been seen taking care of the situation in many cases, to be followed with complaints from the opposition they are being used against them.
Both rivals come out daily, not to say more than once a day to claim their victory.
Basha said that in these days democracy is functioning. He said that “I am confident in victory even though there are many votes to count”.
political parties have increased delays tactics in the ballot counting process for Sunday’s local election.
The counting process has been characterized by constant breaks by poll commissioners, disputes over single ballot boxes that last for hours and the replacement of commissioners by parties.
The delays by a party in a counting station where their candidate appears to be losing have often by reciprocated by the other camp in another counting station where its candidate is falling behind.
“The final assessment of the elections will depend, in part, on the conduct of the remaining stages of the election process, including the counting, tabulation and announcement of results and the handling of possible complaints or appeals,” said Jonathan Stonestreet, head of the OSCE/ODIHR monitoring mission.
Very often the tactics turn to words with top politicians blame inadequate training of poll commissioners, exhaustion and politically motivated delays.
The slow progress was recorded almost in all the cities.
If the ballot counting process proceeds without incident and parties accept the results of the election, Albania’s drawn-out political crisis might come to end, and the process of accession to the EU could receive a much-need boost.
But the daily developments do not give that promise. More and more every day one notices the increased tension between the two political groupings and more tense incidents all around the capital, mainly.