Political Infighting Slows Albanian Vote Count

TIRANA, Albania — The Central Election Commission complained on Tuesday (5 July) that infighting between the two main political parties has slowed the vote counting from Sunday’s parliamentary election. According to a spokesman, ballot counters in 15 of the country’s 100 counting centres walked off the job on orders from their parties without even opening many of the ballot boxes. By Wednesday morning, 99 centres completed their counts, but were slow in submitting the results to the commission. The CEC reported on Wednesday that the opposition Democratic Party leads the ruling Socialist Party.