ALBANIA: The country hopes it will be able to organize free and fair elections on May 8

Record ID: 561202

  • Title: ALBANIA: The country hopes it will be able to organize free and fair elections on May 8
  • Date: 6th May 2011
  • Summary: TIRANA, ALBANIA, (RECENT) (REUTERS) VEHICLE WITH ELECTION BILLBOARD OF TIRANA CANDIDATE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PD), LULZIM BASHA BASHA'S BILLBOARD READING "YOU ARE THE FIRST, TIRANA IS THE FIRST" PEOPLE PASSING BASHA'S BILLBOARD POLICEMAN DIRECTING THE TRAFFIC WOMEN AT BASHA'S RALLY WOMEN WAVING ALBANIAN AND DEMOCRATIC PARTY FLAGS BASHA SALUTING THEM VARIOUS OF BASHA WALKING TOWARDS STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PD) CANDIDATE FOR TIRANA, LULZIM BASHA, SAYING: "With our European project backed up by the Tirana women we can make possible the European enterprise of Tirana," VARIOUS STREET SCENES DURRES, ALBANIA, (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SOCIALIST PARTY (PS) SUPPORTERS WAVING PARTY FLAGS VARIOUS OF THE HEAD OF SOCIALIST PARTY AND CURRENT TIRANA MAYOR, EDI RAMA SHAKING HANDS WITH SUPPORTERS SOCIALIST PARTY SUPPORTERS WAVING PARTY FLAGS RAMA WALKING TOWARDS THE STAGE SUPPORTERS WAVING FLAGS (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) THE HEAD OF SOCIALIST PARTY (PS) AND THE CANDIDATE FOR TIRANA, EDI RAMA, SAYING: "We will fight unemployment in a way not seen before in Albania and in the next four years we will create the conditions to create 300,000 new jobs." RAMA AND THE DURRES CANDIDATE SHAKING HANDS WITH THEIR SUPPORTERS TIRANA, ALBANIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) PEOPLE SITTING IN CAFÉ (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) ENISA, A 21-YEAR-OLD STUDENT, SAYING: "I am not very interested in elections but from what I can see in the media, the situation seams to be tense, I hope that these elections will be quiet and within European standards." (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) MUSTAFA BICI, 50-YEAR-OLD WORKER, SAYING: "I can say that the elections in our country have always created difficult situations and this is a bad thing for us and for our children. People who want to get into power through elections seek to manipulate, steal and get into power in a wrong way, this has happened in the past 20 years in our country." VEHICLE WITH ELECTION BILLBOARD OF TIRANA CANDIDATE OF SOCIALIST PARTY EDI RAMA PEOPLE PASSING RAMA'S BILLBOARD THAT READS "THE ONLY WAY"
  • Embargoed: 21st May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Albania, Albania
  • Country: Albania
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9FLIP3LF0X0H29BOL6JVMHWEH
  • Story Text: Main Albanian political parties rally for the May 8th local elections, while intensified violence followed the electoral campaign throughout the country.
    Albania hopes to hold free and fair elections on May 8 as they are seen as a key test of its democratic credentials following a violent anti-government rally on January 21 that left four protesters dead and has since been the source of a heated dispute between the opposition and the ruling party.
    Albania's president Bamir Topi told local media that the intensified violence during this electoral campaign is dangerous.
    The two main political parties, the ruling Democratic Party and the opposition Socialist Party are promising to change Albania if they will win elections.
    The main goal for the Democratic Party (DP) as well as the main opposition Socialist Party (SP) is winning in the capital Tirana.
    Former Interior minister Lulzim Basha is running on behalf of DP for mayoral race in Tirana.
    "With our European project backed up by the Tirana women we can make possible the European enterprise of Tirana," Basha told his supporters.
    The Socialist Party refuses to accept the results of a 2009 election which gave Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Albania's dominant post-Communist politician, a second four-year term.
    They accuse his government of corruption, pointing to the recent resignation of the deputy premier, and vote fraud.
    Berisha's Democrats and Edi Rama's Socialists have been locked in a power struggle since the last general election in June 2009.
    "We will fight the unemployment in an unseen manner and in a next four years we will create the conditions to create 300,000 new jobs," Socialist Party leader Edi Rama said in Durres. Rama is also a current mayor of Tirana.
    "I am not very interested in elections but from what I can see in media the situation seams to be tensed, I hope that these elections will be quiet and within the European standards," said Enisa, a student from Tirana.
    "I can say that the elections in our country have always created difficult situations and this is a bad thing for us and for our children. People who want to get in power through elections seek to manipulate, steal and get in power in a wrong way, this has happened in the past 20 years in our country," Mustafa Bici added.
    A car bomb exploded in northern region of Kukes, but the owner who is a Socialist Party candidate for the municipality of Shtiqen was unharmed, local media reported on Thursday.
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