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Brussels – The vote count is still underway, but the data published by the Central Electoral Commission of Albania is clear: The Socialist Party is one step closer to a victory that will allow Prime Minister Edi Rama to remain in power for a fourth consecutive term.
The Socialists appear to easily win an absolute majority in parliament, thus securing a key position of strength to move in forced stages towards EU membership by 2030, a promise with which Rama won the elections with an overwhelming majority.
"Today, the Albanian people will decide to move forward with great force and will give us all the strength we need to make Albania the next European member state," Rama told reporters yesterday (May 11) outside the polling station where he cast his vote.
And so it happened, despite a notably low turnout of 42 percent, 4 percent lower than the last election in 2021.
According to reported projections, the Socialists could win more than 80 seats in Parliament out of 140, which is an improved result compared to four years ago when Rama's party won 74 seats. It had better results only in 2013, when it became prime minister for the first time, winning 57.6 percent of the vote and 83 seats.
Challengers from the Alliance for a Greater Albania, the center-right coalition led by the Democratic Party and its historic leader, Sali Berisha, lag far behind, with 34.2 percent.
Behind them, with a very large margin as the third force, is the Social Democratic Party, which is quoted at 3.7 percent of the vote.
Smaller parties, which used the anti-corruption card, failed and are not expected to win more than 10 seats all together. The Nisma Shqipëria coalition is projected to win 3.4 percent and Agron Shehaj's Mundësi Party 2.6 percent. The left-wing Together Movement is quoted with 1.2 percent of the vote.
A different verdict emerged from the first historic diaspora vote. According to data published by the Central Election Commission, 43.9 percent of the more than 150,000 Albanians abroad registered to vote voted for the center-right coalition, compared to 42.6 percent for the Socialist Party.
Balkan Insight reported “several incidents” during Sunday’s voting, which were, however, called “sporadic cases” by the head of the Election Commission, Ilirjan Celibashi. The counting of diaspora votes in Greece was suspended after a protest by the Democratic Party. / Pamphlet adapted from Eunews.it /
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