Albanian Socialists Secure Absolute Majority in Parliamentary Elections

The Socialist Party of Albania has achieved a decisive victory in the recent parliamentary elections, securing more than 52% of the votes as reported by the election commission late Tuesday night. This outcome ensures that Prime Minister Edi Rama will enter his fourth term, as his party is expected to occupy approximately 82 out of 140 seats in the national assembly.

The opposition, led by the Democratic Party of veteran politician Sali Berisha, garnered around 34.44% of the votes, translating into 52 seats. Smaller parties participated in the elections, but none managed to exceed four percent of the vote.

Approximately 3.7 million eligible voters were registered to participate in the elections. Notably, the counting of overseas votes, which were allowed for the first time through mail-in ballots, is still pending. This could potentially increase the Socialist Party's seat count.

During the campaign, both major parties presented populist promises aimed at addressing key issues such as wage increases, enhanced pensions, and strategies to curb the emigration of young professionals. Sali Berisha, who is now 80 years old, received assistance from a former campaign advisor to Donald Trump.

Prime Minister Rama emphasized his administration's progress in judicial reforms and infrastructure development throughout the campaign. His party aims to boost tourism and plans to increase foreign visitors to Albania to 30 million by 2030. Additionally, the Socialists aspire to guide Albania into the European Union within five years, while the Democrats consider such a move premature. Albania has been engaged in EU accession negotiations since 2022 and has been a member of NATO since 2009.

Albania has also been proactive in European migration policy, having established an agreement with Italy that allows for the accommodation of up to 40,000 refugees annually within Albanian facilities, with the processing of their asylum applications occurring before they reach EU borders.

Following the election results, foreign leaders extended their congratulations to Rama. Initial observations from European election monitors indicated that the elections were conducted in a generally inclusive and transparent manner, according to remarks made by EU officials. Despite some noted shortcomings, the voting day was described as peaceful and well-organized.

Upon the release of preliminary results, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni congratulated Rama on his reappointment, as did Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

However, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) acknowledged the election's organization while noting structural deficiencies, including reports of intimidation, abuse of power, and inappropriate access to state resources predominantly favoring the ruling party. The OSCE also criticized the media coverage as being unbalanced, disadvantaging smaller political parties.

In light of the provisional results, Sali Berisha has alleged electoral fraud and has called for protests on Friday.