Sunday’s voting – calm

TIRANA, May 8 – Albanians cast ballots Sunday to elect the local authorities following an election campaign marred by violence.
The main focus of the poll is the capital, Tirana, where the leader of the opposition and three-time Mayor Edi Rama is running for re-election against former Interior Minister Lulzim Basha of the governing Democratic Party.
More than 5,000 police officers were deployed to protect polling stations Sunday, and authorities and the local media reported a spate of incidents, including clashes between rival voting commission members as well as voters. A private national television station said one of its cameras was robbed.
About 3.2 million people are registered to vote for representatives in a total of 384 urban and rural districts.
While polls officially closed at 7 p.m. local (1700 GMT), official allowed those still queuing to cast their vote in capital Tirana. Turnout was 50.9 percent, according to the Central Election Commission.
About 300 international observers and thousands of local ones monitored Sunday’s vote.
Albania, the former isolationist Communist country that is now a NATO member, remains one of Europe’s poorest and has enjoyed little political harmony over the past 20 years of democratic government.