TIRANA, April 21 – Albanian voters have now learned the names of all of the candidates in the upcoming June 21, and several would-be mayors have started low-level campaigning.
The most important race will be in Tirana, with polls placing Socialist Party candidates Erion Veliaj and Democratic Party candidate Halim Kosova in the lead.
It Tirana, Veliaj, 36, is the current social welfare minister. He has a bachelor degree in Political Studies from Grand Valley State University of Michigan, United States. Afterward, he completed Master’s studies with focus on European Integration at Sussex University, United Kingdom. He headed the Mjaft Movement, a civic activism NGO between 2003 and 2007 and founded a party called G-99 in 2007. After poor results in the 2009 elections, Veliaj joined the Socialist Party in opposition and was elected a lawmaker in 2013.
Veliaj faces Kosova, a medical doctor and current lawmaker for the Democratic Party, which went into opposition after losing the 2013 elections. Kosova, 61, has a medical science doctorate from the University of Tirana as is one of Albania’s best known obstetricians. He managed Albania’s largest maternity ward for several years and briefly served as health minister.
Independent candidate Gjergj Bojaxhi, a dual citizen of Albania and the United States holds degrees from John Hopkins University in Washington as well as Saint John’s College in Maryland. He is a former deputy minister of energy with the Democratic Party. Bojaxhiu has also been head of Albania’s Power Corporation, KESH, the state electricity producer. He is also known as professional climber who managed to climb Mount Everest few years ago.
Sazan Guri, an environmentalist who often appars on camera calling for a stop to the capital’s pollution, is the another ther independent candidate.
About 4.3 million Albanians are eligible to vote in June 21 for 61 new mayors and about 1500 councilors.
Races in other major municipalities have also been announced and the largest and most important races will be the western municipalities of Durres, Fier, Vlora and Shkodra.
Tight races are also expected in the two largest municipalities in the country’s interior – central Elbasan and southwestern Korça.
The local administrative elections are seen as a key test for the leftist grouping but also for the new leadership of the center-right coalition.
The leftist governing coalition has grouped more political parties together in its coalition than its rivals, a move aimed at collecting the most votes not only for the mayoral candidates but also for the city councils.
Small parties in coalition with larger ones will be looking to win a local representation of their electorate. This would help them grow for the next general elections two years from now, analysts say.
The June 21 elections will also be a test for the country’s new territorial division.
This is the first time mayoral elections will be held based on a new territorial division of the country, from 384 city halls and communes before to just 61 municipalities or bashkis, which the leftist majority has said will cut costs and also increase efficiency of their management.
