Socialists claim Albanian poll win

TIRANA, Albania -- Albania's ruling Socialist Party has claimed a landslide victory in a decisive second round of elections.

The Socialist Party of Prime Minister Ilir Meta, which won 33 of 100 seats in the first round on June 24, announced it had won 37 more seats on Sunday.

Final official results are due in by Wednesday, Reuters news agency reported.

Forty seats in the 140-seat single chamber are allocated to the parties in proportion to the share of the overall vote they gain.

No violence was reported by election observers after polling booths opened to 1.2 million eligible voters.

"The Socialist Party won 37 seats while the Democratic Party has won five in 43 constituencies in the second round," the Socialists' secretary general Gramoz Ruci said.

The Socialists and its allies were confident they would have the 85 votes required to elect a new president next year when incumbent Rexhep Meidani's five-year term ends, Ruci said.

Aldrin Dalipi, a spokesman for the Central Election Commission (CEC), said voting had been normal although turnout, at about 48 percent, was slightly lower than the first round's 54 percent.

However, Democratic Party leader and ex-president Sali Berisha, who was ousted from power in 1997 following the collapse of pyramid investment schemes, complained of electoral irregularities even before the Socialists claimed victory, triggering concern that he might not recognise the outcome.

The Democrats accused the Socialist government of using police, both before and after the vote, to intimidate their supporters and manipulate the result.

The Interior Ministry denied there had been any pressure from the police.