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Ruling Socialists Claim Victory in Albanian Elections
TIRANA, July 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Albania's ruling Socialist Party (PS) of Prime Minister Ilir Meta claimed Sunday that it had won the second round of parliamentary elections.
The party's Secretary General, Gramoz Ruci, claimed the PS had won 37 of the 44 seats contested in Sunday's second-round vote, while an opposition coalition, led by former president Sali Berisha, had won five seats, the French news agency (AFP) reported.
Counting still continued in a number of constituencies.
Ruci said the combined results and the backing of two other groups would supposedly give the PS a sufficient majority in the 140-seat parliament to form a new government and elect a new president.
The elections have a double significance. The winners will not only form the new government, but will also elect the president next year, if they take at least 84 seats.
"With the support of its allies, the PS will have 85 seats and realize its double objective, to form the next government and designate the president," Ruci added.
However, the electoral commission's spokesman, Aldrin Dalipi, called on the political parties to refrain from speculation and show restraint until the results -- which are not expected before Wednesday -- are officially announced.
Dalipi admitted that turnout -- at about 48 percent -- was lower than the first round's 54 percent.
Meanwhile, Democratic Party leader and ex-president Sali Berisha -- ousted from power in 1997 -- complained of electoral irregularities and accused the Socialist government of using police, both before and after the vote, to intimidate their supporters and manipulate the result, the CNN online service reported.
Berisha, who had yet to make an appearance in public six hours after the polls closed Sunday evening, earlier accused the Socialists of widespread fraud.
His spokesman declined to comment on the Socialist claims of victory, but denounced "police violence" against his party's supporters.
Berisha, who has been insisting on victory for his coalition since the first round, held an hour-long emergency meeting late Sunday with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), European Union and United States representatives in Albania, in order to present them with a list of electoral irregularities, AFP reported.
A Western diplomat claimed the vote, while not "perfect", had still been globally "correct".
Berisha confirmed that PD election observers had been subject to police pressure. He had earlier warned of rejecting the outcome of the ballot, accusing the Socialists of preparing to commit electoral fraud.
But, the CEC and police rejected the accusations, claiming that what they called "minor irregularities" had not prevented the vote from being held properly.
The first round witnessed similar charges of vote rigging.
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