Rama-led coalition set to take power in Albania
June 23, 2013 10:49 pm
By Kerin Hope in Athens
Exit polls in Albania’s general election on Sunday gave Edi Rama’s left-of-centre coalition a strong lead over the incumbent Democratic party, which has governed the impoverished Balkan country for the past eight years.
The coalition, led by Mr Rama’s Socialist party and the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) of former premier Ilir Meta, was set to win between 51 and 55.5 per cent of the vote, according to results announced three hours after polling stations closed.

Prime minister Sali Berisha’s Democratic party and its coalition partners were trailing with between 39.5 and 43.5 per cent of the vote.
The exit polls were carried out by IPR Marketing, an Italian pollster, on behalf of Ora News, an independent private Albanian television station.
Turnout was significantly higher than at the last election in 2009 when only around 50 per cent of Albanians voted, according to observers.
However, voting was marred by a shoot-out in the northern town of Lac, in which an LSI supporter was killed and a Democratic party candidate seriously wounded. The incident took place outside a polling station where voting was under way, police said.
There were no immediate reports of arrests. Both Mr Rama and Mr Berisha condemned the violence, urging their supporters not to be dissuaded from coming out to vote.
About 900 local and international observers, including a 380-strong mission from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s office for democratic institutions and human rights, followed the polling process.
Holding an election deemed fair by the OSCE/ODIHR mission would boost Albania’s chances of joining its neighbours in the western Balkans – Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro – as an official candidate for EU membership.
All previous national elections held since the country emerged from Stalinist self-isolation in 1991 have been tainted by violence and ballot box fraud.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1780123a-dc42-11e2-8853-00144feab7de.html