Voting day ends smoothly, despite rough start in Lac

TIRANA, June 23 – An Albanian political candidate was shot and another man killed in an exchange of gunfire near a polling station, police said, as the country held crucial elections already marred by a dispute that could leave the outcome up in the air.
Both conservative Prime Minister Sali Berisha and his rival, Socialist leader Edi Rama, have hopes for eventual entry to the European Union, and the election is seen as a crucial test of whether the country can run a fair and safe vote. An EU diplomat immediately condemned the violence.
A police spokesman said that Gjon Gjoni, 49, died after being shot in an exchange of fire with Mhill Fufi, 49, a candidate for Berisha’s governing Democratic Party. Fufi and another man, Kastriot Fufi, were injured. It was not immediately clear if they were related.
The shooting in the city of Lac started with an argument, said police spokesman Tefik Sulejmani, who gave few other details.
Despite the political nuances of the shooting, Lac is a violent city with a history of shootings that are unrelated to politics, analysts note, and the shooting should be seen in that context. Three other people were shot in the same week, for example, over a dispute over an unreturned loan.
Rama postponed voting to head to head to Lac, about 50 kilometers northwest of the capital Tirana.
The EU’s top diplomat in Albania took a hard stand.
“I want to say something very clear, very firm. Among the international and European standards for elections, there is the refusal of violence,” said Ettore Sequi, the EU ambassador to Tirana.
The country’s president called for unity.
“Peace, calm, citizens’ life is important. I appeal for calm and maturity because, true we vote for different parties, but we are one nation,” Bujar Nishani said.
Some 3.3 million registered voters are eligible to cast their ballots in the eighth national polls since the fall of communism in 1990.
Because of a battle over the country’s election commission, it is uncertain when results will be announced, though the law mandates they be revealed no later than three days after the vote.
Berisha invited all Albanians to take part in the vote and turn Sunday “into a day of festivities and good understanding.”
“I assure you that your vote will be fully respected,” Berisha told reporters after casting his ballot.
The premier declined to comment on the killing, saying he needed more information first.
Following aggressive campaigns by both Berisha’s Democrats and the Socialists, streets in the capital of Tirana were uncommonly empty in the summer heat, but had long queues of people at polling stations.