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.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
As evening falls in Fiji’s capital, a steady stream of people approaches a makeshift clinic that is a first line of defense against one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics. In the South Pacific nation — a popular tourist destination of just under a million people — more than 2,000 new HIV cases were recorded last year, a 26 percent increase from 2024. The government has declared an HIV outbreak and described it as a national crisis. “It’s spreading like wildfire,” said Siteri Dinawai, 46, who came to be tested. The Moonlight Clinic, a converted minibus parked in a suburban cul-de-sac in Suva, is
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
RSS