"Unprecedented case in this Balkan country", Der Standard's 'Slap': Rama's victory, doubtful

The elections in Albania have also resonated in other countries around the world, where many media outlets have reported.

One of them is the large Austrian newspaper, 'Der Standard', which has emphasized in its headline that Edi Rama's victory is doubtful.

 “Albania’s Prime Minister, Rama, clearly wins the ‘dubious’ elections,” the newspaper writes.

Below is her report.

In Albania, Prime Minister Edi Rama has won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections, securing a fourth term in office, an unprecedented feat in the Balkan country. With 94 percent of the vote counted, his Socialist Party (SP) came in with 52 percent of the vote, according to the Central Election Commission. The conservative Democratic Party (PD) of former Prime Minister Sali Berisha came in second with 34 percent.

Rama and his Socialists have improved their previous result of 49 percent and now have a comfortable majority to govern. This is expected to enable the 60-year-old to advance his goal of Albania joining the European Union by 2030 – although many experts consider this deadline to be overly optimistic.

OSCE expressed doubts about whether the elections were free

According to a television report, the Socialist Party (SP) is expected to win 82 of the 140 seats in parliament. The Democratic Party (DP) will have 51 seats. The final preliminary results are expected to be announced on Tuesday. However, international election observers, led by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), expressed doubts about whether the elections were free from interference.

During the campaign, they said, there was a “use of public resources and institutional power by the ruling party.” Also, “many cases of pressure on state employees and other voters, as well as cases of intimidation,” were reported.

Tourist boom and corruption

Albania has been a member of NATO since 2009 and has been negotiating membership with the EU for about three years – and has had official candidate status since 2014. Rama has been in power since 2013 and entered these elections as the frontrunner. His success rests in part on an influential network he has built up during his twelve years in government. But he can also point to some successes. The economy is doing well thanks to trade with the EU and a tourism boom, and according to the World Bank, it has grown faster than other Balkan countries in recent years.

However, the fact that the opposition is divided has also played in his favor. Opponents accuse him of governing the country through a clientelistic system and of doing little to fight corruption and unemployment. Rama denies these accusations. However, since he came to power, hundreds of thousands of Albanians have emigrated in search of better prospects abroad.

Tough approach against the opposition

Young voters in particular reject both Rama and his opponent Berisha, who have dominated Albanian politics in various roles in a once isolated country since the end of communism in 1990/1991. Berisha became Albania's first freely elected president in 1992 and was prime minister from 2005 to 2013.

Rama is credited with a tough approach towards the opposition, including the 80-year-old Berisha. He himself has faced a series of scandals. Among them is the arrest this year of his ally Erion Veliaj, the mayor of Tirana, on charges of corruption and money laundering. Berisha has also been accused of corruption, which he – like Veliaj – denies.

Experts see widespread corruption as one of the country's biggest problems. It is fueled by criminal gangs that earn billions of euros from drug and arms trade abroad, which they then bring back to Albania for money laundering.