Albanian election officials confirm prime minister’s re-election after recounts

Albanian prime minister’s re-election confirmed

TIRANA, Albania — Albanian officials confirmed Monday that Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s party has won re-election following a lengthy recount process.

Election officials said Berisha’s Democrats won 68 seats in the June 28 general election, while allies set to join the next government won two seats in the 140-seat parliament.

The recount confirmed that Berisha has secured enough seats to govern, as his Democrats have already agreed to form a coalition with a small leftist party that won four seats.

The opposition Socialists, who have complained of political interference in the recount process, won 65 seats, and another went to a small allied party.

Albania has been under intense international pressure to ensure the vote was free of the kind of fraud that marred other elections held after the Balkan country’s communist regime fell in 1990.

The Socialists accuse the Democrats of interfering with the recount and have threatened not to recognize the election results. Berisha’s party denies any interference.

International monitors are due to issue a final report on the process in eight weeks’ time.

In a preliminary report this month, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said political interference delayed the vote count, and assessed the process as bad or very bad at 22 out of 66 voting centers.

The election commission said 50 percent of Albania’s 3.1 million registered voters cast ballots in the election — 1 percent above the turnout figure for the previous parliamentary polls in 2005.