Albanians vote in test for EU membership

Albanian Prime Minister and leader of the Socialist party Edi Rama casts his ballot at a polling station in Tirana outskirts Sunday, June 25, 2017. (AP)

TIRANA: Albanians voted in a parliamentary election on Sunday with the ruling Socialists and rival Democrats sought a majority to push through judicial reforms vital for membership of the EU.
The race pits Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama against the center-right Democratic Party of Lulzim Basha. Neither party won the 70 seats needed for a majority in the 2013 or 2009 election.
Sunday was forecasted to be the hottest day of the year so far with temperatures reaching 39 degrees Celsius.
The elderly and the young were up early to vote when polling stations opened in Tirana, to avoid the heat or to head to the beach after voting. Turnout at 1 p.m. was 27.28 percent.
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 Ramadan. The first official results are due on Monday.
The vote was watched closely by Albania’s European neighbors, keen for it to leave behind a history of election irregularities and violence.
“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.
Campaigning has been mainly peaceful after a pact by the two main rivals that sought to guarantee a trouble-free election.
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.
“I am full of confidence this will be a beautiful day for Albania,” Rama said after casting his ballot.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement hundreds of cases of vote buying and intimidation of voters had been reported, but did not give more details on the political parties involved in those incidents.