Albania’s governing Socialist Party wins mayoral poll in a town with ethnic Greek minority

QEPARO, Albania — Preliminary results Monday showed Albania’s governing Socialist Party candidate Vangjel Tavo won the mayoral election in the southwestern town of Himara after the previous mayor was removed in a case that has sparked tensions with Greece.

Results at the Central Election Commission showed Tavo won 58.62% of Sunday’s votes, while 41.38% went to Petraq Gjikuria from the Together We Win 10-party coalition that includes the main opposition’s center-right Democratic Party of former Prime Minister Sali Berisha and the left-wing Freedom Party of former President Ilir Meta.

The early election was held in Himara, 220 kilometers (135 miles) southwest of the capital, Tirana, after the previous mayor, Fredis Beleris was stripped of his title, convicted and imprisoned on vote-buying charges. He and neighboring Greece have claimed his conviction was politically motivated. Albanian officials strongly reject those claims, citing the independence of the judiciary.

Beleris and the two mayoral candidates are members of the local ethnic Greek minority.

The case against Beleris has strained relations between Tirana and Athens, with Greece threatening to hold up Albania’s bid to join the European Union.

Sunday’s preliminary turnout tally was 37.61%, or more than 3% than last year, and the voting was held without any issues according to the CEC.

The Socialists currently dominate the Town Hall’s assembly.

The opposition complained that some 6,000 people were unable to vote due to expired identity cards. During the previous election, the commission allowed people with out-of-date IDs to vote upon the request of some political parties and a decision from the government. This year no such request was filed, according to CEC head Ilirjan Celibashi.

Former Interior Minister Taulant Balla said that despite his call on July 22 for a speedy two-day issuing of IDs, there was no response from Himara voters, especially those living in neighboring Greece.

The voting was held at the culmination of the tourist season with thousands of tourists in areas where the voting took place. Few were aware of the voting that was taking place.

Himara is populated with ethnic Greeks on what has been dubbed the Albanian Riviera, a coastal region with burgeoning tourist development that has been rife with property disputes.

In the aftermath of the fall of Albania’s communist regime in the early 1990s, property that had previously been seized by the state was distributed among residents. But this often led to disputes over ownership claims, and there have been allegations of ethnic bias in land distribution.

Beleris, 51, has claimed the case against him was an attempt by Socialist Party’s Prime Minister Edi Rama to retain control of Himara and its potential for lucrative future property development

In June, Beleris was elected to the European Parliament with Greece’s governing conservative party, and was given a five-day leave from prison to attend the parliament’s opening session in Strasbourg.

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