Albanian poll gets cautious praise

(TIRANA) - Albania won cautious praise from European election observers Monday following legislative polls seen as crucial to the Muslim-majority country's aspirations to join the European Union.

The ruling Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha, which held a narrow lead Sunday according to exit polls, hailed the vote as "free and fair," while authorities said it passed smoothly.

But the Socialist Party of Berisha's main rival, Tirana Mayor Edi Rama, intends to file complaints of irregularities in the seventh election since the collapse of the Albania's communist regime in the early 1990s.

With tensions running high due to the tight finish, Berisha and Rama called for calm among activists awaiting results from the count, which only amounted to 42 percent of ballots by 5:30 pm (1530 GMT) on Monday.

"There are no losers or winners in these elections, because a European Albania is a country for all Albanians," Berisha said.

But the Socialists reported "cases of intimidation of voters by the people from the Democratic party and problems with voter registers."

The complaints were partly backed by election monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which said there were improvements but still reported violations.

"Observers assessed the voting process slightly more positively than in previous elections, but noted procedural violations related in particular to inking procedures and widespread family voting," the OSCE said.

"Election day was overall calm and peaceful and the atmosphere was improved," it added.

The OSCE's assessment of Sunday's election is considered crucial to Albania's hopes of winning European Union candidacy status.

It had 450 officials among some 3,000 monitors on the ground scrutinising the vote, the results of which are set to be announced later on Monday.

The election came almost three months after the former Stalinist state joined the NATO military alliance and took its first steps towards joining the EU by filing for membership.

An election without major disruptions marks a crucial improvement in the Balkan state.

All post-communist polls in Albania, one of Europe's poorest nations where Muslims make up around 70 percent of its 3.6 million population, have been disputed and marred by violence.

And even ahead of the vote, some incidents were reported, with three people killed during campaigning -- including the murder in early May of Socialist deputy Fatmir Xhindi.

The poll was held in accordance with a new electoral law adopted at the request of the EU and the wider international community.

"The country has matured, it has made progress, and many of the fears we had only some months ago have not materialised," said Wolfgang Grossruck, the head of the OSCE observer mission.

"I'm certainly happy about the progress we saw, but there is also a considerable number of issues that need to be tackled, in particular the polarised political climate," he said.

Besides family voting, where one member decides how others cast their ballots, the OSCE said other concerns included allegations of pressure on voters and the use of official events for campaign purposes.

Some 3.1 million voters were eligible to pick 140 parliamentary deputies from around 4,000 candidates.

Analysts estimated neither the Democrats nor the Socialists will be able to obtain the necessary 71-seat majority in the parliament.

That means former prime minister Ilir Meta, leader of the opposition Movement of Socialist Integration, could play a decisive role with an estimated four percent of the vote.