site.btaAlbania Holds Parliamentary Elections, PM Rama Seeks Fourth Term

Albanians are voting on Sunday to elect the country’s next parliament for a tenure of four years. A total of 5,225 voting sections opened at 7 AM local time (8 AM Bulgarian time) and will close at 7 PM (8 PM).

These are the 11th parliamentary elections in Albania since the fall of the communist regime in 1991, Top Channel television said. Albanians resident abroad are eligible to vote in the elections for the first time.

Eleven parties and coalitions are named on the ballot paper. A total of 2,046 candidates from 12 constituencies are running for the 140-seat Parliament.

According to a new election formula, each party standing in the elections has nominated 186 candidates, including 46 on a closed list, where they are named in a fixed order determined by the party, and 140 on an open list, where the order can be changed by voter preferences.

The ruling Socialist Party of Albania (PS), of Prime Minister Edi Rama, is seeking a fourth term with the pledge to take the nation into the European Union by 2030. Rama presented a 12-point governance programme for the period after the elections, including higher wages, employment and social security, education, health care, agriculture, infrastructure and energy.

Opposition leader Sali Berisha, who is former president and former prime minister, vowed to end what he described as “the Edi Rama dictatorship” and hurled accusations against the government. Berisha’s Democratic Party of Albania (PD) has been in opposition since 2013, when it was ousted by PS.

A total of 3,713,761 people are eligible to vote in the Albanian parliamentary elections. The option of machine voting is available in Tirana’s Administrative Unit 10 and in Vlore Municipality (in the central part of the country).

Expatriates voted by mail. The last two deliveries of ballots cast abroad are expected to arrive in Albania within polling day on Sunday. Ballots arriving after 7 PM on Sunday will be considered invalid, the Shqiptarja news portal said.

Expatriate voting became possible after the Election Code of Albania was amended in July 2024.

Opposition against Prime Minister Edi Rama has intensified over the last year due to alleged government repressions, including against Sali Berisha, with Rama being implicated in a series of scandals, Reuters said. One of the scandals was sparked by the arrest of Rama’s ally, Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, on charges of corruption and money laundering. Veliaj denies any wrongdoing.

Latest opinion polls show an election victory for the ruling PS, followed by the opposition coalition around PD. Many voters, mainly young people, are said to be tired of politicians like Rama and Berisha, who have governed the country at various positions since the fall of communism, Reuters reported.

In addition to the two big players, PS and the PD-dominated coalition, the election race involves smaller political entities led either by new figures or politicians familiar to the public.

Sunday’s parliamentary elections are considered crucial for the country’s democratic maturity and its European future, an aspiration about which Albanians are unanimous despite their domestic political differences, AFP commented.