Two models of governance racing, silent campaigning day

TIRANA, June 27 – Campaigning ended Saturday for Albania’s parliamentary elections, a key test of the Balkan country’s political maturity that pitted the center-right prime minister against a socialist rival.
Eager to join the European Union, Albania is under international pressure to make sure Sunday’s vote was fair and free of the reports of fraud that have marred previous elections.
As required by law, political parties ceased campaigning and the media stopped its election coverage Saturday, which was designated as a day of reflection.
Polls had shown Prime Minister Sali Berisha of the governing Democratic Party neck-and-neck with Edi Rama, the mayor of Tirana and leader of the main opposition Socialist Party.
Their political platforms are similar, with both pledging to fight poverty and take Albania closer to the EU.
About 3.1 million Albanians were eligible to vote in the country’s seventh parliamentary election since the fall of communism in 1990. Voters will chose 140 lawmakers among 4,300 candidates of 34 political parties.
None of the previous ballots met international standards, and both the EU and United States have stressed Albania must do better this time.
Some 500 international observers and about 3,000 local officials monitored Sunday’s election.
In the past few weeks, three people have been killed in what local media had said were politically motivated attacks, although that remains unclear.
A regional leader for the small conservative Christian Democratic Party was driving his car when it exploded, a man was fatally shot following an argument over a campaign poster and an opposition lawmaker was shot dead in May.