Nga Wall Street Journal
Albania Ruling Party, Opposition Both Claim Vote Victory
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
TIRANA (AP)--Albania's ruling Socialist Party and the opposition Democratic Party both claimed victory Monday in weekend local government elections.
Police said an explosive device was thrown near a polling station in Himare, 250 kilometers south of Tirana, an area populated by the ethnic Greek minority, slightly injuring an officer and two other citizens.
Voters in this country of 3.1 million people elected municipal officials Sunday in some 380 urban and rural communities in nationwide local elections that were considered a test of the nation's progress toward democracy.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union, which Albania hopes to join one day, have urged the government and political parties to make greater efforts to meet international standards by preventing the manipulation of returns and accepting electoral defeat.
About 2,000 local observers and 230 observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitored the elections at about 4,700 polling stations nationwide.
While unrest and major cheating during elections is now the exception, the opposition complained of irregularities in voters' lists going into Sunday's poll and called it a deliberate attempt by the governing Socialists to exclude Democratic Party supporters from voting.
Turnout was 52%, a 10% drop from the previous elections, in 2000. The Central Elections Commission was expected to announce results later Monday.
Gramoz Ruci, secretary-general of the Socialist Party, said its candidates won in 36 of 65 municipalities, including the capital, Tirana, and the port of Durres - the two largest cities - and claimed that the opposition won only 23. Socialist candidates won in 163 of 308 communes, he said.
Opposition leader Sali Berisha said the Democratic Party increased its share of votes by 8% to 15% in the south, which is traditionally considered pro-Socialist.
In the 2000 municipal elections, the Socialists won 242 local government posts out of 374, and the Democratic Party took 118.
Updated October 13, 2003 6:54 a.m.
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