The socialists appear to have made further progress in Albania, despite protests of fraud.
Chris Burford
London
TIRANA, Oct 6, 2000 Albanian opposition leader Sali Berisha called on Friday for the second round of voting in municipal elections to be delayed due to alleged fraud during the first round.
Berisha, a former president and head of the Democratic Party, initially rejected the results of Sunday's first round, in which the government Socialist Party claimed widespread gains, including the capture of Tirana city hall for the first time.
But in a statement issued Friday by the Democratic Party, Berisha said he was ready to "partially recognize the election results in constituencies where fraud was not reported."
The statement did not suggest a new date for the polls.
According to preliminary election results, Socialist Party candidate Edi Rama won the Tirana mayorship with 52.73 percent of the vote. Berisha's opposition Democratic Party, which has held the post since 1992, won 39.23 percent for its candidate, Besnik Mustafaj.
Berisha's party alleged massive voter fraud in Tirana.
The Socialists won 26 other municipalities while the Democratcs won nine and 22 races were sent into a round run-off scheduled for October 15.
The Democratic Party also called for a "complete reorganization" of the Central Election Commission to more equally represent all political forces.
By law, the commission has seven members, two appointed by the president, three by the High Council of Justice, one by the governing party and one by the main opposition party.
Berisha's party had refused to delegate a representative to the election commission before the first round of elections, saying the body was effectively controlled by the government.
Albanian President Rexjep Meidani is a member of the Socialist Party and also chais the High Council of Justice.
On Monday, the pan-European Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe issued a joint statement saying Sunday's election had been fair.
"Some irregularities were noted, but none seemed significant enough to influence the outcome. The counting of the results was also done in accordance with the law," the joint statement said.