Albanian opposition supporters and lawmakers scuffled with police in central Tirana on Thursday as protests spread across the country over a decision to add previously uncounted votes in a local election to the total.
In the capital, which has become the flashpoint in tension over delayed results from the May 8 local elections, protesters attempted to push past a police cordon outside the election commission building, where a seven-member committee was counting votes cast into the wrong ballot boxes for Tirana mayor.
Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha supported the commission’s decision to include the uncounted votes as legal, saying there were at least 300 contested ballots. A private television station even broadcast footage of Albanian President Bamir Topi accidentally casting his ballot into the wrong box.
An initial vote count in the race for Tirana mayor had shown opposition Socialist Party leader Edi Rama ahead by just 10 votes, out of 250,623 ballots cast, over Lulzim Basha, a former Albanian interior minister and member of the governing Democrat party.
Albania has been gripped by a political crisis for almost two years, with the opposition alleging corruption among the governing Democrats and accusing them of rigging national elections in 2009.
The crisis has led to sometimes violent demonstrations in the small Balkan country of 4.2 million, with four opposition supporters shot dead in clashes with police in January. Berisha has repeatedly rejected opposition calls for his resignation.
The authorities said several policemen were slightly injured in Thursday’s scuffles. Police have asked prosecutors to start criminal procedures against 18 opposition lawmakers and seven members of the public for “violent resistance and offense” to authorities — although the lawmakers cannot be investigated unless parliament votes to lift their immunity.
Protests were also held in other towns. Police said about 200 people blocked a highway in Kavaja, 50km west of Tirana, while local media reported protests in the cities of Fier, Durres, Lezhe and Vlore, with demonstrators blocking highways and burning vehicle tires.
The tension led European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele to cancel a trip to Tirana yesterday.
“The electoral process is taking some time at the moment, and there are tensions that are related to the ongoing counting of votes. That is why we have the decision to postpone,” commission spokeswoman Natasha Butler said.
Topi appealed for calm.
“In these difficult political moments, the appeal from the head of the state and most citizens in the country is for a return to democratic normalcy, putting public interests over party ones, and for maturity and responsibility,” the president said.
He said Barroso’s visit was expected to have helped Albania’s ties with the EU, which the country hopes to join.
The Socialists have called for protests to topple the government which, they say, is seeking to change the election results with the decision.
Berisha warned Rama against inciting violence.
“I guarantee that violence of any kind will be faced with the harshness of the law,” he said during a news conference.
Berisha also warned that “in Albania there are not only Socialists, but also others, more than 800,000 who voted for my coalition.”
Basha, the Tirana mayoral candidate, appealed for calm.
“Shall we live through institutions or on the streets? Shall we use the legal process or chaos and anarchy? Shall we listen to the people’s voice or resume the political fight,” he said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese