Observers report some flaws in Albania vote

TIRANA, Albania (AP) - Albania's governing party was in a close race with the Socialist opposition on Monday as the votes were slowly counted in the country's parliamentary election.

The conduct of the ballot is seen as a crucial test of the Balkan country's hopes of EU membership, and a preliminary report by international election observers found signs of both improvement and violations.

Exit polls from Sunday's vote indicated that Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha's Democratic Party had won another term in office.

But official results from 57 percent of the ballot boxes counted by 9 p.m. (1900 GMT, 3 p.m. EDT) Monday showed Albania's 12 electoral districts equally split between the Democrats and the Socialist Party, led by Tirana Mayor Edi Rama.

Berisha was narrowly ahead in the largest district, Tirana, which elects 32 of Albania's 140 lawmakers.

But officials said the counting process was delayed as ballots were being counted electronically for the first time in Albania, and it was unclear when the first nationwide results would be announced.

Central Election Commission spokesman Leonard Olli said the counting was expected to end Tuesday morning, after which central authorities would have 48 hours to calculate the final results.

Olli said the voting and counting process were "free of incidents."

But monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe noted that, despite improvements from previous elections, violations had persisted.

And opposition leader Rama called on police to intervene in what he claimed was an effort by the Democrats to influence the vote-counting process.

"I am speaking about a plan for verbal aggression with the illegal presence of persons at the counting centers where the Socialist Party is ahead," Rama told a news conference late Monday.

Berisha rejected Rama's allegations as "absurdities."

An OSCE statement said observers "noted procedural violations related in particular to inking procedures and widespread family voting."

"The country has matured, it has made progress, and many of the fears we had only some months ago have not materialized," said Wolfgang Grossruck, a top official among the 500 international election observers. "I'm certainly happy about the progress we saw, but there is also a considerable number of issues that need to be tackled, in particular the polarized political climate."

U.S. Ambassador John Withers said he agreed with the monitors' findings.

"I ... urge the Albanian authorities to build on (Sunday's) success to meet higher, more demanding international standards on future occasions," he said.

Berisha and Rama's parties campaigned on similar platforms, pledging to fight poverty and take Albania closer to the European Union.

In its seventh parliamentary election since the fall of communism in 1990, Albania came under intense international pressure to make sure the vote was fair and free of the reports of fraud that have marred previous polls. Albania became a NATO member on April 1 and is seeking to join the 27-nation European Union.

Some 4,300 candidates representing 34 political parties were vying for the 140 seats in Parliament.

Three people have been killed in recent weeks in what local media said were politically motivated attacks, although that remains unclear.

A regional leader for the small Christian Democratic Party was driving when his car exploded earlier this month. A man was shot dead during an argument over a campaign poster, also in June, and an opposition lawmaker was gunned down in May.
MyWay