Preliminary results in Albania’s parliamentary election on Monday showed the ruling Socialist Party ahead, with voters supporting the country’s uphill effort to join the European Union and Prime Minister Edi Rama’s bid for a fourth term.
The vote count is still underway, but the data released by Albania’s Central Electoral Commission are unequivocal: the Socialist Party is one step closer to victory that will allow the outgoing premier, Edi Rama, to remain in power for a fourth consecutive term. The Socialists–at 52.8 percent– should also easily win an absolute majority in Tirana’s parliament, thus securing a key position of strength to move in forced stages toward EU membership by 2030, the promise with which Rama overwhelmingly won elections.
Albania is one of the last deeply pro-American strongholds in Southeastern Europe. Its regional influence, military bases, and ports are strategic assets at a time of growing Russian and Chinese influence in the Balkans.
