Voters would elect Bardh Spahia as mayor of Shkoder, the candidate supported by the “House of Freedom” (HF) coalition led by Sali Berisha.
Three candidates are running in the March 6 local by-elections in Shkoder: Xhemal Bushati of the Democratic Party (PD), Majlinda Angoni of the Socialist Party (PS), and Bardh Spahia (HF). HF is a coalition between the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) and the faction of the PD that supports Sali Berisha against Lulzim Basha’s leadership of the party.
An Euronews Albania poll published on Thursday showed that 36,3 percent of the Shkoder electorate would vote for Spahia (HF) were elections to be held today.
Angoni (PS) follows with 26,4 percent, and Bushati (PD) with 9,9 percent.
Poll results show Spahia as winner of the by-elections and the city’s next mayor.
Shkoder has been the Democratic Party’s biggest stronghold since the fall of Communism.
The upcoming by-elections in six Albanian municipalities are widely seen as a battle for legitimacy within the PD between Berisha and Basha. The two parted ways last year after Basha excluded Berisha from party forums following his designation by the United States for corruption.
Those who voted for PD in the last elections would overwhelmingly support Berisha’s candidate for mayor, poll results showed with Spahia receiving 70 percent of the votes versus Bushati’s 17 percent.
More Shkoder voters would support PD in elections if the party were led by Berisha instead of Basha: 35 percent vs. 13 percent. Among PD voters in the last elections, over 75 percent said they wouldn’t vote for the party under Basha’s leadership; nearly 70 percent of them said they would vote for it with Berisha leading the PD.
The poll results in Shkoder do not necessarily reflect the support for the two PD leaders in other constituencies in Albania.
