Albania Re-Evaluates Ballots from Disputed Poll

Opposition representatives watch as ballots are counted on May 14 in the Asim Vokshi elementary school in Tirana | Photo by : Besar Likmeta

“The Democratic Party requested on Monday that the CEC re-evaluate all [contested] ballots contained in 26 voting centers, and for the outcome of that recount to be reflected in the total result for mayor of Tirana,” CEC spokesperson Leonard Olli said in a statement on Tuesday.

“This request for the examination of envelopes with contested ballots in 26 voting centers was supported by the Central Election Commission as legally grounded,” he added.

Contested ballots are ballot papers that have been designated by at least one representative of a political party in the counting stations as irregular. It is not yet clear what effect the re-evaluation will have in the final tally for the Tirana race.

The ruling party candidate Lulzim Basha was declared the winner of the Tirana race on May 23 by the Electoral Commission, a victory disputed by the opposition Socialists.

Basha’s victory came after a controversial recount of stray ballots gave him a lead of 81 votes out of a quarter million over incumbent mayor and opposition leader Edi Rama, who held a razor thin margin of ten ballots in the unofficial preliminary results before the extra votes were included.

The opposition Socialists have appealed the decision to recount the stray votes, calling it illegal, and have begun talking about a fresh boycott of parliament and renewed protests. The Socialist have also contested the Commission's latest decision to re-evaluate the contested ballots as illegal.

The CEC decided on May 18 by a vote of four to three to include ballots from several polling stations that had been placed in the wrong ballot boxes in the final tally. The decision came four days after the counting initially ended and as observers awaited the announcement of the preliminary results, which put Rama ahead.

According to a report of the OSCE/ODIHR election observers’ mission issued on May 20, the CEC's legal basis for opening the ballot boxes to count the stray votes was unclear.

Although the popular revolt called by the opposition has not materialized, with only Socialist MPs and a few hundred of the party's core supporters staging rallies for a few days in front of the CEC building surrounded by a thick cordon of riot police, the CEC results have been appealed in the Electoral College.

The Electoral College, a specialized court for dealing with elections disputes, will hand down a decision on the validity of the recount of the stray ballots on Friday.

This article was made possible through the support of the National Endowment for Democracy.