Albanian election under threat

President Rexhep Meidani urges voters to behave responsibly

TIRANA, Albania - Partisan political infighting is threatening to nullify Sunday's parliamentary elections in Albania.

Officials warned on Friday that elections might fail because voting bodies in a dozen constituencies had been paralysed by party conflicts.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) appealed to the government and opposition parties to cooperate in 12 constituencies where the two sides are refusing to work together in preparing to hold the election.

Ilirjan Celibashi, the CEC head, said commissions in 12 constituencies were not functioning because their members were too partisan to work together.

"I appeal to the parties to tell their local election representatives that they are responsible to the law and not their political bosses," Celibashi added.

"If the election process does not take place in 12 areas that would be a scandal and parliament cannot be constituted. The parties should become aware of their responsibility," he added.

President Rexhep Meidani earlier urged Albania's sometimes unruly voters to behave responsibly.

The CEC also rejected attempts by the main parties to disguise some of their candidates as independents in order to get more seats.

Prime Minister Ilir Meta's Socialists and the main opposition Democratic Party held raucous final rallies in the capital Tirana on Friday evening which passed off peacefully.

Sunday's general election will be the first since 1997, when the poverty-stricken Balkan nation plunged into anarchy following the collapse of corrupt pyramid investment schemes.

Order was restored after the intervention of an Italian-led force. This year's campaign has been peaceful.

Meta told voters his Socialists deserved to be returned to power because they had given people hope for the future.

"We shall win because we built a peaceful and prosperous Albania with a passport to the European Union and because we replaced the fear of 1997 with the present security," Meta told thousands of supporters waving Albanian, EU and U.S. flags.

There are no reliable public opinion polls, but the Socialists, who won a landslide victory in local elections in October last year, are widely expected to remain in power.

The opposition Democratic Party's leader Sali Berisha, who denounces the government as communist and corrupt, is pledging to halve taxes, introduce a minimum wage of $100 per month, and give the country a "New Start" and a place in Europe.

"We want your votes to change Albania," said Berisha, who signed a "contract" with his election promises as the cheers of thousands of supporters mixed with the thump of firecrackers.

Voters will elect a 140-seat single-chamber parliament, with 100 seats allocated under a "first-past-the-post" system and 40 proportionately.

To the relief of Albania's Western partners, the conflict in neighbouring Macedonia, where ethnic Albanian insurgents are battling government forces, has not become an election issue.