(BRUSSELS) - Albania's municipal elections over the weekend fell short of international standards both in their preparation and execution, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said Monday.

"Albania's political leaders now need to improve the way they work together on electoral reform and on the many other challenging reforms Albania is facing in the EU integration process," Rehn said.

The elections passed off peacefully in what was seen as a test of the country's democratic progress as it bids for eventual European Union and NATO membership.

"Respect for democratic principles is a fundamental commitment under the Stabilisation and Association Agreement which Albania signed in June last year," Rehn said.

"The shortcomings in the preparation and conduct of these elections reflect the need for improved cross-party co-operation to fulfil Albania's international commitments," he added.

The EU commissioner noted the preliminary assessment of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe observers, who said that procedural shortcomings and tensions marred the elections.

Nonetheless Prime Prime Minister Sali Berisha said the vote was the best since the fall of communism in 1991.

"Albania had its first victory towards the respect of the standards by organising elections that were free and fair," Berisha told a press conference held just before the OSCE statement was issued.

Mainly Muslim Albania is a candidate to join the EU but it had been warned by Brussels that free and fair elections are essential for it to progress on the road toward membership.

Albania emerged in the early 1990s from decades of isolation under communism and has a history of troubled, often violent elections.

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