Ambassadors Keep Watch on Key Albania Race

Western ambassadors are closely watching the ballot counting in the race for Tirana after Sunday's local election, as the last 16 ballot boxes are counted, with the contenders divided by several hundred votes.

Besar Likmeta

Tirana

US Ambassador Alexander Arvizu and Dutch Ambassador Henk van Den Dool (center) on Thursday evening at the counting station for Tirana's borough no.5 | Photo by Dardan Malaj

With less than 16 ballot boxes left to be counted out of 485, Democratic Party candidate Lulzim Basha held a 600 vote lead over Tirana mayor and Socialist opposition leader Edi Rama on Friday morning, as vote tallying entered its sixth day.

The counting process in Tirana has been characterised by constant breaks by poll commissioners, disputes over single ballot boxes that last for hours and the replacement of commissioners by parties, tactics which have delayed the final tally.

District number five, where the last ballot boxes are being counted, is considered a Socialist stronghold and the party hopes it will bring a much needed victory for Rama.

The ballot counting process in this district has been the slowest of all areas of Tirana. After coming to a standstill on Thursday evening, it recommenced only after US Ambassador Alexander Arvizu and his EU delegation colleague Ettore Sequi went to the counting station to break the deadlock.

Meanwhile the Dutch Ambassador in Tirana, Henk van den Dool, has been present at the counting station as an observer for the better part of the week.

The ruling Democrats and the Socialists have exchanged jibes in the last two days over the delays in the counting process, accusing one another of trying to damage the electoral process.

The key race for the capital has become even more important as other poll results show that the Socialist opposition won most major urban areas in the country, apart from the cities of Shkodra and Lezha in the north.

Sunday’s poll was seen as key test for Albania’s democratic credentials after a nearly two year long political crisis and the January 21 anti-government protests which left four protestors dead and dozens wounded.

The observer mission from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, gave a mixed scorecard on Tuesday, when it presented its preliminary findings report. However, the political delay tactics of the vote counting process may negatively impact its final verdict, which is released two months after the elections.

“The local government elections were competitive and transparent, but took place in an environment of high polarization and mistrust between parties in government and opposition,” said Jonathan Stonestreet, head of the OSCE/ODIHR Election observation mission, on Tuesday.

“The final assessment of the elections will depend, in part, on the conduct of the remaining stages of the election process, including the counting, tabulation and announcement of results and the handling of possible complaints or appeals,” he added.