Albanian preliminary polls results show a clear win for the ruling Socialists

TIRANA, Albania — Preliminary results in Albania's parliamentary election on Tuesday gave a clear victory to the ruling Socialist Party, which attracted voters supporting the country's uphill effort to join the European Union and Prime Minister Edi Rama's bid for a fourth term.

With about 97% of the votes counted, Rama's left-wing Socialists got 52.09% of the votes, or 82 seats in the 140-seat Assembly, or parliament, followed by the opposition center-right Democratic Party-led coalition of Sali Berisha with 34.43%, or 52 seats. Three other small parties will take the rest.

With that number, the left-wing Socialists should be able to govern alone.

Preliminary turnout Sunday was 42% of the 3.7 million eligible voters, or 4 percentage points lower than four years ago.

Berisha's Democrats claimed irregularities during the vote and also with ballots mailed from the diaspora, accusing the ruling Socialists of involving criminal gangs to favor their candidates, buying ballots and using other illegal methods.

''No way to reconcile with such elections. No, forget it,'' said Berisha, suggesting that the Democrats will not recognize the results.

The European Union hailed Albania's vote as ''calm and well organized, despite some shortcomings,'' calling on ''all political forces to ... ensure the continued functioning of the country's institutions.''

''Albania's EU integration process is a strategic national objective, and a whole-of-society project, which is strongly supported by Albania's citizens,'' said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, also calling "for a constructive and inclusive political dialogue as all of Albania's political parties and all sectors of society ... have a role to play in further advancing the country's EU accession process."

The Central Election Commission, the electoral executive, has said that by law the final results come out 48 hours after voting ends — in other words, later Tuesday. The results may be delayed following a request of the opposition not to consider some 53,000 ballots mailed from the diaspora in neighboring Greece, claiming they were manipulated.

For the first time, those in the diaspora could cast postal votes. About 195,000 mailed in their votes.

Eligible voters in Albania and abroad voted to elect 140 lawmakers for a four-year mandate in the Balkan nation. Because of mass emigration, the country of 2.4 million people has a total of nearly 3.7 million eligible voters.

Diaspora votes from Greece may have moved seats in three or four areas in favor of the left-wing Socialists. The opposition claims they were manipulated by Socialist supporters. The postal company said it has confirmation signatures of all the voters in Greece.

It is expected that Rama will give a speech to his supporters, likely on Wednesday.

Rama's Socialist Party says it can deliver EU membership in five years, which is an ambitious pledge, while battling the Democrats, who argue that Albania isn't ready for EU membership.

On Friday, the opposition will hold a protest against the alleged election manipulation. The protest will coincide with a European Political Community summit being held in Tirana.

''The friends who will come should listen to the people's voice asking for a free vote and also that a tyrant, a narco-dictator, is not allowing them but using all violent tools to grab the vote,'' said Berisha.

A joint international observation mission noted that despite being competitive and professionally managed, the election process so far was marked by the ruling party's misuse of public resources, a confrontational and polarizing tone, the two main political parties using divisive language, untransparent financing and unbalanced media coverage of smaller parties.