Tensions high as Albania votes in disputed local poll
Albanian opposition supporters converged on the government headquarters last week after the ruling Socialists voted down a move by President Ilir Meta to scrap local elections.
AFP :
Albanians cast ballots on Sunday in tense municipal elections that have become the flashpoint of a democratic crisis, with the opposition boycotting the vote and refusing to recognise its results.
The Balkan state has been roiled by political turmoil since February, when opposition politicians resigned from parliament to launch street protests against Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.
They accuse him of crime links and manipulating elections, which he denies.
Citing the unrest, Albania’s President Ilir
Meta announced a postponement of the municipal poll earlier this month. But Prime Minister Rama and election authorities have decided to forge ahead with the voting regardless. On Sunday, groups of several dozen opposition supporters protested outside some polling stations in the capital of Tirana, shouting “Don’t vote!” and “Rama, go!”.
“No one can stop me from voting,” Arjan Celi, a 45-year-old engineer, told AFP after passing the protesters to mark his ballot, saying it was his democratic duty.
But Entela Mushi, an economist among the crowd of protesters, vowed: “These elections will not be recognised and our resistance will be strong.” On the eve of the polls, right-wing opposition leader Luzlim Basha urged his supporters to boycott the election and hold “non-violent demonstrations everywhere.”
They are under heavy pressure from Western powers to remain peaceful, with the European countries and the US issuing stern warnings against violence or obstruction of voting.
The Organization for Security and Co-operating in Europe (OSCE), whose observers are monitoring the poll, also urged the “utmost restraint”.
“Any attempt to derail the democratic process through violent action stalls the progress of Albania and stains the country’s international reputation,” it said in a statement.
In the past two weeks, opposition supporters have attacked polling stations in several parts of the country in an effort to destroy election materials, setting fire to two schools in the process. Their weekly anti-Rama protests have also at times boiled over into violent clashes with police..
Albanians cast ballots on Sunday in tense municipal elections that have become the flashpoint of a democratic crisis, with the opposition boycotting the vote and refusing to recognise its results.
The Balkan state has been roiled by political turmoil since February, when opposition politicians resigned from parliament to launch street protests against Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.
They accuse him of crime links and manipulating elections, which he denies.
Citing the unrest, Albania’s President Ilir
Meta announced a postponement of the municipal poll earlier this month. But Prime Minister Rama and election authorities have decided to forge ahead with the voting regardless. On Sunday, groups of several dozen opposition supporters protested outside some polling stations in the capital of Tirana, shouting “Don’t vote!” and “Rama, go!”.
“No one can stop me from voting,” Arjan Celi, a 45-year-old engineer, told AFP after passing the protesters to mark his ballot, saying it was his democratic duty.
But Entela Mushi, an economist among the crowd of protesters, vowed: “These elections will not be recognised and our resistance will be strong.” On the eve of the polls, right-wing opposition leader Luzlim Basha urged his supporters to boycott the election and hold “non-violent demonstrations everywhere.”
They are under heavy pressure from Western powers to remain peaceful, with the European countries and the US issuing stern warnings against violence or obstruction of voting.
The Organization for Security and Co-operating in Europe (OSCE), whose observers are monitoring the poll, also urged the “utmost restraint”.
“Any attempt to derail the democratic process through violent action stalls the progress of Albania and stains the country’s international reputation,” it said in a statement.
In the past two weeks, opposition supporters have attacked polling stations in several parts of the country in an effort to destroy election materials, setting fire to two schools in the process. Their weekly anti-Rama protests have also at times boiled over into violent clashes with police..
