Albania's governing Democrats claimed they won weekend parliamentary elections, but the opposition Socialists accused Prime Minister Sali Berisha's party of attempting to snatch victory.
Near complete results showed the Democrats were ahead by just over one percentage point, but it was unclear whether Berisha had secured enough seats in parliament needed to govern alone.
Berisha said his party received a "vote of confidence", and pledged to focus on shepherding Albania into the European Union.
"Integration is the main issue in the four years to come," he said.
Democratic Party spokeswoman Majlinda Bregu said Berisha won 71 of the house's 140 seats and could govern without forming a coalition. But the opposition Socialists disputed that, and election officials said it was too early to tell either way.
Senior Socialist party official Ditmir Bushati accused the Democrats of hatching a "black plan to grab our victory".
"The Democratic Party does not have 71 seats," Bushati said, adding that "these elections, unfortunately, have fulfilled no standard. The result has been significantly deformed."
With 98 percent of ballot boxes counted by 1:00pm (1100 GMT) Wednesday, Berisha's Democratic Party had 46.81 percent, to the 45.42 percent of Tirana Mayor Edi Rama's Socialists.
The Central Election Commission's preliminary results showed the leftist SAI coalition coming third with 5.59 percent.
Bregu asked election authorities to "confirm the victory of the Democratic Party".
But election commission spokesman Leonard Olli declined to confirm the Democrat's claim they had secured 71 seats.
"We have not brought out the final results," he said.
Rama accused the governing party of using gunmen to threaten counting officials. The governing party has rejected similar accusations earlier this week, calling them absurdities.
Unofficial calculations show the Democrats to have won 70 of Parliament's 140 seats - one short of the 71 they need to govern without forming a coalition.
Ensuring a fair and peaceful ballot on Sunday was seen as a crucial test for Albania's ambitions to join the EU, and international monitors say that despite some violations the voting was calm.
The Socialist Party has 66 seats, according to calculations by ECA-KRIIK, a group of non-governmental organisations conducting a parallel vote tabulation and funded by the United States Agency for International Development.
The SAI, which has said it is willing to join a coalition with Socialists, is estimated to have won four seats.
The final official results are expected by the end of the week.
Vote counting was halted Wednesday due to objections from the two main parties over the process, and to allow exhausted election officials some rest.
About 100 of the 4,753 ballot boxes remain to be counted, and the process was expected to be completed by late Wednesday night.
Both main parties ran on a similar platform, pledging to lift Albania out of poverty and secure its EU accession.
The Balkan country was under intense international pressure to make sure the vote was fair and free of the reports of fraud that have marred the six previous polls since communism ended in 1990. Albania became a NATO member on April 1 and is seeking to join the 27-nation EU.
Election monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said that while there were improvements and fewer irregularities, violations persisted.
An OSCE statement Monday said observers "noted procedural violations," including widespread family voting and problems with the inking of voters' fingers to prevent them from voting again.
source: newshub archive
