From: Alice Taylor
Almost all ballot boxes from the country’s voting centers have been won, demonstrating a clear Socialist Party win. Today, the counting of ballots to determine who will be members of parliament will take place. Once the mandates have been allocated, the parties will each have the power to remove or replace certain candidates, as per changes to the electoral code made in 2020.
PS has 74 mandates, PD 59, LSI 4 and PSD 2.
Exit will bring you an update of the results of the MP mandates as they come in.
22:00
- Taulant Balla, the leader of the PS parliamentary group is the most voted politician so far.
- PS: (1) Taulant Balla 17,839 – (2) Bledar Cuci 11,814 – (3) Edi Rama 11,412
- PD: (9) Flamur Noka 9,159 – (10) Ervin Salianji 9,131 – (12) Bledjon Nallbati 7,320
- Party leaders: (3) Edi Rama 11,412 – (14) Lulzim Basha 6,977 – (16) Tom Doshi 6,581 – (120) Monika Kryemadhi 1,155
21:30
- Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has congratulated Prime Minister Edi Rama on his victory in April 25 elections.
- He called for the strengthening of cooperation between the two governments, and for investigations of vote-rigging allegations.
21:00
- The head of CEC, Ilirjan Celibashi has reminded ballot counting teams and commissioners in poling stations that those proved to have been involved in vote-rigging risk a sentence of 7 years in prison.
17:40
- Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde has congratulated Prime Minister Edi Rama on his victory of elections.
- “My warmest congratulations to my dear colleague Edi Rama on the results of the parliamentary elections in Albania,” she tweeted on Wednesday.
- The Albanian media has reported that yesterday Rama received congratulatory phone calls from Turkish President Erdogan, Greek PM Mitsotakis, Macedonian PM Zaev, Italian FM Di Maio and opposition leader Salvini.
17:30
- US Ambassador Yuri Kim congratulated Prime Minister Edi Rama on his Socialist Party’s victory in the Albanian elections.
- She commended the opposition election campaign, and called on its leaders to recognize the election results and cooperate with the winners.
- Finally, Kim called for prosecution of those who obstructed people’s right to vote.
17:14
- US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price has stated that they look forward to cooperate with the new Rama government.
- He commended the opposition campaign and called for respect for the election results.
- “The U.S. congratulates the people of Albania on their recent elections. We look forward to continuing our close partnership with Prime Minister Rama and commend the opposition’s strong campaign. Respect for the results of legitimate elections strengthens Albania’s democracy.”
17:00
- PD candidate for MP Agron Gjekmarkaj has stated that the main opposition party will not recognize the April 25 elections. No official announcement has been made by the PD on the issue so far.
- The state and mafia were one and the same during these elections, he claimed in a Facebook post.
- He listed a number of alleged irregularities, including police protection of those who bought votes and threatened voters, use of crime money and state resources to buy votes, etc.
- Gjekmarkaj hinted at fresh protests “until the regime is down and the [free] vote is back”.
- He said the opposition will not be intimidated by embassy bureaucrats but will instead listen to Albanians and answer to challenges of corruption and democracy.
15:20
- Head of CEC Ilirjan Celibashi stated that the ballot counting process for preferential candidates votes has been finished in 37 ballot counting centers, and in 14 others will be completed soon.
- There were problems reported in some ballot counting centers because members of counting teams and commissioners did not follow the rules.
- Celibashi calls on candidates to be calm because the CEC has all video footage which they can view later to verify ballot counting.
- He stressed that attempts to manipulate ballot counting won’t be tolerated.
14:55
The PS has also requested the CEC to provide them with video footage from all polling stations and ballot counting centers in Tirana.
It follows the same request by opposition parties, PD and LSI.
13:49
- Candidate counting process in the municipality of Korca has finished. The most voted candidate from Democratic Party (PD) in Korca is Ervin Salianji, which is the third candidate in the list of PD. Salianji got 4913 preferential votes out of 18.263 in total. He leads the list of most preferred PD candidates in Korca region.
Salianji is followed by former head of PD in Korca, Andra Mano with 4548 votes and Edmond Spaho with 1900 votes.
12:49
- In the Kukes district, the counting process for candidates has finished.
The most voted candidate from Democratic Party is Flamur Hoxha with 9159 votes, followed by Isuf Çelaj and Shyrete Koka.
Meanwhile, the most voted MP candidate from the PS is Gerta Duraku with 5636 votes, followed by Petrit Malaj and Halim Dauti.
12:16
- Ballot counting for preferential candidates has not yet resumed in Unit 8 in Tirana. PD commissioners at “Red School” say that PS representatives have not come to start the counting process. We are waiting for the PS representative to continue the process.
10:47
- In Fier, only 1/5 of the ballot boxes have been counted. Chairwoman of SP in Lushnja Lindita Buxheli leads so far in the Fier region with 1747, followed by Erion Brace with 1411 votes and Gramoz Ruçi (the Speaker of the Assembly) with 1387 votes.
10:42
- In Vlora so far 352 out of 445 ballot boxes have been counted.
- Prime Minister Edi Rama is first, receiving 10,660 votes, followed by Political Leader in Vlora Damian Gjiknuri with 5,666 votes and Vullnet Sinaj with 5,596 votes.
- Bujar Leskaj is the most voted Democratic Party MP candidate with 4,787, followed by Fation Veizaj with 3,460 and Gëzim Ademaj with 3,073 votes
10:41
- In Shkodra Benet Beci the MP candidate who recently joined the Socialist Party leads with over 3000 votes
10:12
- Socialist MP candidate Niko Peleshi is the most voted candidate in Korça so far. The Minister of Defense received 10,235 votes, followed by Olta Xhaçka with 3,754.
- From the Democratic Party list so far the most voted candidate is Ervin Salianji with 4,886 votes, followed by Andrea Mano with 4,590 votes and the former mayor of Devoll with 3,721 votes.
- Socialist movement for Integration MP candidate Edmond Spaho so far has 2,295 votes.
- Socialist MP candidate Niko Peleshi is the most voted candidate in Korça so far. The Minister of Defense received 10 thousand 235 votes, followed by Olta Xhaçka with 3,754.
- From the Democratic Party list so far the most voted candidate is Ervin Salianji with 4,886 votes, followed by Andrea Mano with 4,590 votes and the former mayor of Devoll with 3,721 votes.
- Socialist movement for Integration MP candidate Edmond Spaho so far has 2,295 votes.
10:00
- MP Candidates Result in Tirana: 26 ballot boxes counted out of the total 1243
- MP candidate Belinda Balluku most voted by PS in Tirana. PD led by Belind Këlliçi
- According to CEC, only 26 ballot boxes have been counted in the capital, while so far Belinda Balluku of the Socialist Party clearly leads, receiving 2,140 votes. All other socialist candidates have 3-digit number votes, Fatmir Xhafaj stands out with 622 votes.
- PD leads Belind Këlliçi with 883 votes, followed by Lulzim Basha with 279 votes, Agron Shehaj 193 and Oriela Nebiaj with 155 votes.
- Tirana has a total of 1,243 ballot boxes and so far only 26 have been counted.
