Spannungen nach den Wahlen in Albanien[en][fr] 

The leader of the Socialist party and main challenger Edi Rama accused the governing Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha of delaying the vote count in an attempt to manipulate the results. 

"The Socialist Party is ahead and nobody should even think of tampering with the results," said Rama on Monday evening, quoted by AFP. 

In a hastily arranged press conference, Berisha described his opponent's accusations as "absurd", adding that the vote count would continue. 

The electoral commission had planned to announce the results on Monday evening. However, it now says the announcement has been postponed until an unspecified date. 

According to a partial vote count announced today, the Socialists had 40.9% of the vote, while the Democrats had 39.97 percent. However, the number of seats won will be recalculated, once all votes have been counted, on the basis of the regional proportional system, which is being applied for the first time. Albania's ruling coalition is thus expected to have five more seats than the opposition coalition in the 140-seat parliament. 

One representative of a small party said votes were being stolen. "My wife's and my own vote do not show up in the vote records," said Gilman Bakalli, a former Democrat MP running for the Pole of Liberty Party, quoted by Reuters. 

The European Union and the United States view the ballot as a test of Albania's readiness for integration with Europe. The EU's Swedish Presidency will review Albania's candidate status in light of the monitors' final poll report. 

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, the EU official in charge of Albania's EU membership bid, said on Monday that the country must do better when staging future elections, citing campaign violence and procedural violations this time around. Albania filed an application to join the EU on 28 April (EurActiv 29/04/09). 

(With agencies.)