Albania’s governing Socialists far ahead in early vote count
TIRANA, Albania — Albania’s left-wing Socialist Party appeared headed for a new governing mandate based on preliminary election results Monday from an election seen as crucial to the country’s bid to launch membership negotiations with the European Union.
The Central Election Commission’s said that with more than three-quarters of the ballots counted the Socialist party of Prime Minister Edi Rama had won about 48 per cent of the votes, compared with 29 per cent for the opposition Democratic party of Lulzim Basha.
Election authorities said the partial count pointed to the Socialists winning 73 seats in Albania’s 140-member parliament.
Voter turnout in Sunday’s election fell to 46.4 per cent, 7 points lower than in 2013.