2001 Albanian parliamentary election

2001 Albanian parliamentary election

← 1997 24 June 2001 (first round) 8 July 2001 (second round) 2005 →

All 140 seats in the Parliament of Albania 71 seats needed for a majority

Party Leader % Seats +/– PS Fatos Nano 41.44 73 -28 BF Sali Berisha 36.89 46 +20 PDR Genc Pollo 5.09 6 New PSD Skënder Gjinushi 3.65 4 -5 PBDNJ Vangjel Dule 2.60 3 -1 AD Neritan Ceka 2.56 3 +3 PAA 2.56 3 +3 Independent – 2 -11 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Prime Minister before Elected Prime Minister Ilir Meta PS Ilir Meta PS

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Parliamentary elections were held in Albania on 24 June 2001.^[1] The result was a victory for the ruling Socialist Party of Albania, which won 73 of the 140 seats, resulting in Ilir Meta remaining Prime Minister. Voter turnout was 53.6%.^[2]

Electoral system[]

The Assembly of Albania has 140 members of whom 100 are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies and 40 members are elected through a party-list proportional representation system.^[3]

Campaign[]

President Rexhep Meidani announced on 18 April 2001 that the first round of the elections would be held on 24 June, with the second round on 8 July.^[4] The governing Socialist Party had the aim of gaining 60% of the vote, in order to have a sufficient majority to elect a new President in 2002. They campaigned on infrastructure improvements such as communication and transport and on their record in restoring order and economic growth.^[5] They were also boosted by achieving the opening of negotiations with the European Union on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement just before the election.^[6]

The main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Albania led by ex-President Sali Berisha, had moderated their message after losing the 2000 local elections. They formed a coalition of right wing parties, the Union for Victory Coalition, and said that they were open to dealing with other parties if they won the election.^[6] They hoped to make gains due to public concern over corruption and the continuing poverty in Albania.^[5]

The campaign was generally peaceful and with no reliable opinion polls most observers expected the ruling Socialists to be re-elected with a smaller majority.^[7]

Voting[]

First round[]

Both main parties initially claimed victory after the first round on the 24 June in which turnout reached about 60%. The governing Socialist party claimed that they won 45 of the 100 seats.^[8] Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) described the election as having made progress towards international democratic standards.^[5] However the opposition Democratic party claimed there was widespread intimidation and electoral fraud.^[8] Procedural differences led to polling stations being kept closed in Lushnje leading to voting having to be delayed for about 30,000 people.^[9] The results of the first round showed that the Socialists won 33 seats as against 17 won by the Democrats.^[10]

Second round[]

A run-off vote to decide the winner in 51 districts where no candidate won over half the vote in the first round was held on 8 July. Another 40 seats were decided in proportion to the share of the vote each party won.^[11]

Results[]

Aftermath[]

The constitutional court ruled that voting had to be repeated in eight districts on 22 July and a further two on 29 July.^[12] International observers described the elections as a whole as having been free and fair.^[13] However the opposition Democrats said they would not accept the results. They described the election as a farce and started a boycott of Parliament.^[13] The boycott lasted for six months until January 2002 when Sali Berisha announced that his party was returning to Parliament.^[14]

References[]

External links[]

• List of constituency results