Albanians were voting Sunday in a general election that follows a landmark agreement between the country's two biggest political parties to look past their bitter differences and back efforts for Albania to eventually join the European Union.

Holding a free and fair election is key to launching EU membership talks for the nation of 2.9 million, which is already a NATO member. After earning EU candidate status in 2014, Tirana has struggled to pass important reforms vital for its bid to advance to EU — namely deeply reforming its corrupted justice system.

Eighteen political parties are running for 140 seats in parliament in Sunday's vote. The main contenders are Prime Minister Edi Rama's Socialist Party and the opposition Democratic Party led by Lulzim Basha.

An agreement reached in May ended the three-month parliamentary boycott by the Democrats, who claimed that voting was open to manipulation. The election date was delayed a week and Rama's Socialists promised greater oversight on election transparency.

All main parties campaigned on a reform agenda, pledging faster economic growth, pay hikes and lower unemployment, which stands at about 14 percent.

Some 6,000 police officers were on duty for election security, while more 300 international observers came to monitor the vote.

"We expect a better Albania and leaders to work to do what they have pledged at the campaign," Zenel Caka, 47, said at a polling station in Tirana.

Luan Rama of the Socialist Party for Motivation, the third main political party, said one member was injured following a quarrel and a shooting incident outside a polling station in Shengjin, 60 kilometers (37 miles) northwest of the capital, Tirana.

Police investigating the incident said they found a cartridge but no injured person was taken to the hospital. They said it did not disrupt the voting.

The Interior Ministry also reported hundreds of attempts to buy votes, a crime that may result in a jail term.

Central Election Commission said partial turnout at a quarter of polling stations by 10 a.m. was 12.6 percent, almost the same as in the previous election.

Albanians also celebrated Eid al-Fitr on Sunday, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. In the early morning, thousands of Muslim believers said prayers at the recently-renovated Skanderbeg Square in Tirana.

All top leaders cast their ballots, congratulating Muslims on the holiday and urging citizens to vote.

"Today, Albania needs God more than ever," Rama said.

The western city of Kavaja was also holding a mayoral election.

Preliminary results from the vote are expected Monday.</s>Exit polls indicate Albania's ruling Socialists have likely secured a parliamentary majority in elections seen as key to the country’s future relationship with the European Union.

Citing exit polls, broadcaster Ora News on June 25 projected that Prime Minister Edi Rama's Socialists will win 45-49 percent of the vote, good enough for 71-75 seats in the 140-seat chamber.

The center-right Democrats of Lulzim Basha, an ardent admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump, are forecast to have won 30 percent of the vote.

An exit poll by Italy's IPR Marketing provided similar results.

Official results are expected on June 26.

If the projections hold, it will allow the 52-year-old, pro-Europe Rama to set the political agenda without the need for a coalition. His party was favored going into the vote, but experts were unsure if it would attain a majority.

A clear victory would allow Rama to rule without his current junior coalition partner, the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI), which received about 19 percent of the vote.

Rama has become increasingly at odds with the LSI and its former leader, former Prime Minister Ilir Meta, who is now president-elect after being voted to the mostly ceremonial position by parliament.

Although the elections apparently went off smoothly, voter turnout was 44.9 percent, a record low for a general election in Albania.

In 2013, turnout was 52.7 percent, with some 1,750,000 people voting. Preliminary calculations indicate 1,514,851 out of a possible 3,452,260 voters turned out for the current election.

Because of the low turnout -- which some people blamed on the record-high temperatures and celebration of Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan -- the election commission extended voting by an hour past the scheduled closing time.

The Socialists and Democrats were the leading parties looking to gain an outright majority in the parliament of the NATO-member, Muslim-majority country of 2.9 million people.

The Democrats had threatened to boycott the elections, demanding that Rama resign ahead of the vote to ensure a fair process.

The United States and the EU brokered a deal in May that overhauled election rules and allowed the opposition greater oversight over the process.

Rama is seeking his second term as prime minister. He described the vote, held in front of international observers, as a pivotal moment for the country and its hopes to join the EU.

Rama, who has voiced concerns about Russian influence in the country, has said he would like to complete EU ascension talks by the end of this year.

His rival, Basha, has also said he favors EU membership, calling it the "divine mission of the Democratic Party."

The country gained EU-candidate status in 2014, but movement has been slowed by a perceived lack of reforms, including those involved with the election process, and long-standing corruption.

While in power, the Socialists have improved tax collection and ruled under an improvement in economic growth -- 3.45 percent last year from less than 1 percent four years ago.

However, they were unable to fulfill promises to create 300,000 new jobs and provide free health care for everyone over 40 years of age.

The country has come under scrutiny for its massive levels of marijuana production, and it is a major transit route into Europe for cocaine and heroin.

Basha, 43, a former transport and interior minister, accuses Rama of ignoring Albania's problems and glossing them over with "facades and palm trees."

Both Rama and Basha previously served as mayors of the capital, Tirana.

With reporting by dpa, AP, Reuters, and Balkan Insight</s>BELGRADE (Sputnik) — There were numerous attempts to bribe the voters and dozens of people have been detained, the Macedonian Press24 news portal reported.

The leader of the Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha, has withdrawn observers from 30 polls as the voters were under pressure, and an observer from ruling Socialist Party was beaten by unknown people in front of a polling station in Albanian town of Elbasan.

A total of 18 parties are participating in the elections, with over 3 million voters registered and 5,300 polling stations set up across the country. The polls opened at 07:00 local time [05:00 GMT] and will close at 19:00 [17:00 GMT].

Among the main contenders are the Socialist Party of Albania, the Democratic Party of Albania and the Socialist Movement for Integration.</s>TIRANA, Albania — Preliminary results show that Albania's left-wing Socialist Party appeared headed for a new governing mandate in crucial elections in the country's bid to launch membership negotiations with the European Union.

The Central Election Commission's preliminary results after counting one-third of the votes Monday morning show the Socialist party of Prime Minister Edi Rama winning almost half the votes compared to 28 of the opposition Democratic party of Lulzim Basha.

Election authorities said the partial count pointed to the Socialists winning at least 75 seats in the 140-member parliament.

Turnout fell to 47 , or 6 points lower than in previous polls in 2013.

Holding a free and fair election is key to launching EU membership talks for the nation of 2.9 million, which is already a NATO member and that earned EU candidate status in 2014.

Rama wrote on Monday in his Facebook page wishing Albanians "a beautiful day with this still-unfinished masterpiece of this country's common people," referring to the expected significant difference in winning results.

Basha spoke to reporters late Sunday evening thanking Albanians for voting "with a European dignity" in a religious day and under extreme hot temperature.

The voting was extended by one hour due to low turnout that was attributed to religious festivities and temperatures that reached 39 degrees (102 Fahrenheit.)

Albania with a two-third Muslim majority celebrated Eid al-Fitr on Sunday, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

International observers are expected to hold a news conference with a preliminary statement in the afternoon.</s>Tirana: Albania's Socialist Party looked set to win Sunday's parliamentary vote, an exit poll showed, which would give the ruling party a mandate to push judicial reforms vital for membership of the European Union.

Both the Socialists of Prime Minister Edi Rama and the rival Democratic Party led by Lulzim Basha are seeking a majority as neither party won the 70 seats needed for a majority in the 2013 or 2009 election.

The exit poll by Italy's IPR Marketing, with a margin of error of two percent, showed the Socialists are set to win between 45 and 49 percent of the vote, which could secure them more than half of the seats in parliament.

 

 "The Socialist Party might have won more than 71 seats (in the 140-seat parliament), but this is still an opinion not a certainty," IPR Marketing's Antonio Noto said.

Both main parties want to ditch the Socialist Integration Movement (SIM) of president-elect Ilir Meta, which gained the role of king-maker by propping up their respective governments for the last eight years.

The state election commission extended voting by an hour to 1800 GMT due to a low turnout as temperatures reached as high as 39 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest day so far this year. 

 But at 8 p.m. when polls closed turnout was around 44.90 percent, the lowest this century.

"The ideas of neither candidates for prime minister convinced those Albanians who make the difference so they did not turn out to vote," said Ylli Manjani, a former justice minister sacked by Rama a few months ago.

The vote is being closely watched by Albania's European neighbours, keen for it to leave behind a history of election irregularities and violence.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement hundreds of cases of vote buying and intimidation of voters had been reported, but gave no further details.

Thousands of Muslims, who make up 60 percent of the population, recited prayers in the newly-built pedestrian square in central Tirana early on Sunday to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

"I expect a radical change, a better future for the Albanians so they don’t emigrate throughout the world," Tirana resident Petrit Sulo said after casting his ballot.

Voting across much of the Balkan country was peaceful. However, the Socialists and the SIM party, coalition partners for the last four years, accused each other of cases of voter intimidation, vote buying and violence among their backers.

The two frontrunners have said they will jointly ask the EU to advance towards accession. They have not said whether they might rule together in coalition.

Since taking office, the Socialists have improved tax collection and boosted the performance of the electricity sector. Economic growth accelerated to 3.45 percent last year, compared with 0.97 percent in 2013.

But they failed to fulfil promises to create 300,000 new jobs and secure free health care for everyone aged over 40. The country`s international reputation was tarnished by data showing Albania had become Europe's biggest open-air cannabis producer.

Basha, a foreign-educated former transport and interior minister, accuses Rama of glossing over Albania's problems with "facades and palm trees" and says he has neglected the economy.

Implementing a sweeping judicial reform aimed at rooting out widespread graft will be a priority for the next government as it seeks progress towards joining the European Union.

Rama said last month Albania could get a green light for formal EU talks to start at the end of this year.</s>related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

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Albania's Socialist Party is set to win a majority in parliament following Sunday's election, a partial vote count showed, empowering them to push economic and judicial reforms vital for membership of the European Union.

TIRANA: Albania's Socialist Party is set to win a majority in parliament following Sunday's election, a partial vote count showed, empowering them to push economic and judicial reforms vital for membership of the European Union.

The Socialists of Prime Minister Edi Rama campaigned to get a mandate that would help them ditch smaller parties and govern alone.

The number of Socialist lawmakers in the 140-seat parliament could rise to 76 compared to 66 in 2013, when little less than half the votes were counted by 1 p.m. on Monday.

"According to all data, we shall be in the driving seat," Rama told his candidates for parliament in a message soon after polls closed on what was the hottest day of the year so far in Albania. On Monday morning, he called the vote "an unfinished masterpiece".

Opposition Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha issued no immediate comment after his party was seen gathering 28 percent of the vote, or 40 seats in parliament.

Voter turnout at 44.9 percent was one the lowest rates since Albania ditched communism in the early 1990s, probably due to the heat and the end-of-Ramadan celebration observed by Muslims who account for 60 percent of the population.

Prime Minister Rama and opposition leader Basha had postponed the election by a week after they reached a deal to end a 90-day opposition protest in exchange for letting the opposition into government to prevent election fraud.

Some 400 international observers closely watched Sunday's vote, keen to see Albania will bury its image of violent and contested elections. Despite minor incidents, voting appeared generally peaceful and the count progressed slowly but calmly.

The Interior Ministry, however, said hundreds of cases of vote buying and intimidation of voters had been reported. The Socialists and the smaller Socialist Integration Movement (SIM) kingmaker party accused each other of buying votes, intimidating opponents and causing scuffles among their supporters.

International observers were due to hold a press conference later on Monday to give their assessment on whether elections had been free and fair.

Implementing sweeping judicial reform aimed at rooting out widespread graft will be a priority for the next government as it seeks progress towards joining the European Union.

Rama said last month Albania could get a green light for formal EU talks to start at the end of this year.

"The election campaign was really peaceful and civilized from both sides; they both made only peaceful statements. With peace everybody is a winner," Daut Lumeni, a pensioner, told Reuters Television.</s>Preliminary results show that Albania's ruling Socialist Party appears headed for a new governing mandate in an election seen as key to the country's future relationship with the European Union.

With 40 percent of the votes counted, the party of Prime Minister Edi Rama won almost 52 of the vote, the Central Election Commission said on June 26.

It would secure the Socialists 76 seats in the 140-seat chamber -- 11 more than in the previous elections in 2013.

According to the partial count, the opposition center-right Democratic Party of Lulzim Basha won 29 percent of the vote, or 40 seats -- a loss of nine seats compared to 2013.

Rama's current junior coalition partner, the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI), received almost 16 percent of the vote -- some 4.5 percentage points more than in the previous poll.

Official results are expected later on June 26.

If the partial results hold, it would allow the 52-year-old pro-Europe Rama to set the political agenda without the need for a coalition.

Rama has become increasingly at odds with the LSI and its former leader, former Prime Minister Ilir Meta, who is now president-elect after being voted to the mostly ceremonial position by parliament.

Although the elections apparently went off smoothly, voter turnout was 44.9 percent, a record low for a general election in Albania. In 2013, turnout was 52.7 percent.

Because of the low turnout -- which some people blamed on the record-high temperatures and celebration of Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan -- the election commission extended voting by an hour past the scheduled closing time.

The Socialists and Democrats were the leading parties looking to gain an outright majority in the parliament of the NATO-member, Muslim-majority country of 2.9 million people.

The Democrats had threatened to boycott the elections, demanding that Rama resign ahead of the vote to ensure a fair process.

The United States and the EU brokered a deal in May that overhauled election rules and allowed the opposition greater oversight over the process.

Rama is seeking his second term as prime minister. He described the vote, held in front of international observers, as a pivotal moment for the country and its hopes to join the EU.

Rama, who has voiced concerns about Russian influence in the country, has said he would like to complete EU accession talks by the end of this year.

His rival, Basha, has also said he favors EU membership, calling it the "divine mission of the Democratic Party."

The country gained EU-candidate status in 2014, but movement has been slowed by a perceived lack of reforms, including those involved with the election process, and longstanding corruption.

While in power, the Socialists have improved tax collection and ruled over an improvement in economic growth -- 3.45 percent last year from less than 1 percent four years ago.

However, they were unable to fulfill promises to create 300,000 new jobs and provide free health care for everyone over 40 years of age.

The country has come under scrutiny for its massive levels of marijuana production, and it is a major transit route into Europe for cocaine and heroin.

Basha, 43, a former transport and interior minister, accuses Rama of ignoring Albania's problems and glossing them over with "facades and palm trees."

Both Rama and Basha previously served as mayors of the capital of Tirana.

With reporting by VOA, dpa, AP, Reuters, and Balkan Insight</s>While western mainstream media attempts to portray yesterday’s parliamentary elections in Albania as free and fair, the more apparent reality is being ignored.

The elections with monumentally low official turnout of 42%, said to be the lowest in the history of post-Communist Albania, have been marred by violence and controversy.

Months of protests from the opposition Democratic Party and non-aligned anti-corruption protesters seem to have done nothing to oust the neo-liberal, pro-imperialist, pro-NATO Socialist party (however ironically named) of Edi Rama. It was only a US brokered deal which allowed elections to go ahead after months of internal stalemate due to protests.

According to poll projections that given the patently unfair nature of Albanian elections will probably correspond to the official results, Rama’s Socialists are set to win an outright majority in the parliament. One must note that in spite of low voter turn-out in a country with a small population it has taken a significant period of time to count votes. This is often a key indication that the results are being doctored.

The biggest scandal in Albania is not that local mafia lords brazenly employ voter intimidation tactics, it is not that opposition protests have been ignored by the ruling faction, it is notthat the Prime Minsiter has handed the Presidency to a man he once called “rotten”, it is not even that Albania has ISIS terrorists, Gulenist terrorists, and anti-Tehran MEK terrorists operating on soil: the biggest scandal is that the western mainstream media do not question the legitimacy of elections in such a state.

During the second-half of the 20th century, many of the overtly communist states of the Warsaw Pact did in fact hold multi-party elections, although the western mainstream media of the day rarely reported this fact. Instead, according to the western mainstream media, such elections (when rarely acknowledged) were worthless because of the overall communist nature of Warsaw Pact member states.

In the 1960s, Albania exited the Warsaw Pact due to the extreme version of communism advocated by Albanian leader Enver Hoxha. In the 1970s, Albania’s relationship with China also came to an end as China opened up its doors to the United States during the Nixon era, leaving Albania on its own.

This left Albania as one of the most isolated countries in the world, more so than even North Korea in many respects.

Today’s Albania is hardly more democratic than it was during Enver Hoxha’s time but it is far more violent both internally and in respect of the threats Albanian leaders make to its neighbours.

Prior to the election, Edi Rama threatened to annex parts of Serbia if Albania was not allowed into the EU. All of this came as anti-corruption protesters demanded Rama’s resignation before elections were to begin.

Albania has gone from an impoverished hermit state to an ultra-corrupt mafia state, built on top of a naro-state, all the while encouraging racially motivated imperial policies which threaten the territorial integrity of its neighbours including Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and even Greece. The plan for Greater Albania which aims to have Tirana annex parts of each aforementioned state has strong support in a country which can barely support itself in its existing borders.

But NATO and the EU tend to look the other way. If anything, Brexit has made the EU even more willing to overlook Albania’s culture of hyper-corruption as the EU looks keen to replace Britain among its ranks.

The levels of crime and corruption in Albania would never be tolerated by NATO or the EU if Albania’s foreign policy didn’t serve as a proxy of NATO/EU ambitions for the Balkans. If Albania had the kind of isolationist foreign policy it did in the 1970s and 1980s, one would see the western mainstream media filled with stories of ultra-violence, and lack of democracy which are in fact rampant in Albania’s chaotic internal affairs.

Had a deeply unpopular party secured re-election amid low voter turn-out, voter intimidation and after months of protests in a country that isn’t a NATO state and an aspiring EU member, the mainstream media in Europe and the US would be calling for a ‘Maidan on the Adriatic’. But there will be no Maidan in Albania, because Albania has already become as corrupt as Ukraine has become since the 2014 coup. Most importantly, it has become equally if not even more pro-NATO. Unlike Ukraine, Albania is a fully fledged member of the US led alliance. At the end of the day, this is all that matters to the west.</s>The ruling Socialist Party has emerged as the likely winner of Albania’s latest parliamentary election. Although the party may have attracted the most votes, it’s unclear whether it will have a majority.

Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialists garnered between 45 and 49 percent of the vote, according to early exit polls. The opposition Democratic Party, meanwhile, appeared to have secured between 30 and 34 percent.</s>TIRANA, Albania (AP) - Albanians have started to cast ballots in a general election that follows a landmark agreement between the two biggest parties to further efforts for the country to eventually join the European Union.

Holding free and fair elections is key to launching EU membership talks. The country of 2.9 million is already a NATO member since 2009.

Eighteen political parties are running for 140 seats in parliament in Sunday's vote. The main contenders are parties led by Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama and Lulzim Basha of the opposition Democratic Party.

Albanian youth holding a national Albanian flag rides his bike in the main square "Skenderbeg" one day ahead of the upcoming general election in capital Tirana, Albania, on Saturday, June 24, 2017. Albania holds parliamentary elections Sunday, in a poll that will gauge the country's readiness to start European Union membership talks. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

All main parties campaigned on a reform agenda, pledging faster economic growth, pay hikes and lower unemployment, which stands at about 14 percent.

A woman holds an umbrella to protect her from the sun walks by Socialist Party headquarters were a giant banner is placed reading in albanian " For the Albania we Love" one day ahead of the upcoming general election in capital Tirana, Albania, on Saturday, June 24, 2017. Albania holds parliamentary elections Sunday, in a poll that will gauge the country's readiness to start European Union membership talks. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
Voters in Albania go to the polls in an election important to the country's European Union candidacy, with both the ruling Socialist Party and the rival Democratic Party looking to gain a majority in the country's parliament. Voting is extended by one hour because of Eid al-Fitr celebrations and 39 °C (102 °F) degree temperatures.