Albanian opposition leader rejects election results, calls for protests

Hall Berisha, leader of the Democratic Party - Albania's main opposition party, called on his supporters to protest on Tuesday after he refused to recognize results of Sunday's parliamentary elections. After counting 98 percent of votes it was announced that the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama had won.

"The elections were characterized by buying votes for the largest scale in the history of the electoral process in Albania. We will never recognize them" - said Berisha, quoted by the Balkan Insight portal.

The former Prime Minister and President of Albania called for a protest in Friday, when European leaders will attend a meeting of the European Political Community of Tirana.

After counting 98 percent of the votes, the Socialist Party of Rama received 52 percent support, with the Democratic Party in second place, and the coalition of right-wing parties gathered around it - 34 percent. This result gives Socialists 82 seats in Albania's 140-seat parliament.

International observers from the OSCE announced on Monday that they had "observed widespread intimidation and abuse of public resources during campaign." They described the voting itself as "well organized."

Political commentator Ergys Mertiri assessed in an interview with Balkan Insight that “the elections were more of a defeat for the opposition than a victory for Rama.” The expert added that the opposition's defeat is largely due to their inability to merging into a larger coalition.

Berisha was placed under house arrest in 2024 in connection with accusations of corruption. Several mass rallies were organized in Tirana at that time demonstrations, one of which turned into a riot in front of the headquarters Albanian parliament. Supporters of the Democratic Party demanded the replacement government with a cabinet of technocrats and the release of Berisha from house arrest, which took place finally at the end of November.

Jakub Bawołek (PAP)

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