Albania

After Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party won a record fourth term in office with a big majority, opposition Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha said he would refuse to accept the results and announced a street protest. 

Elections to Albania’s parliament were competitive and  professionally managed, the authorities rose to the challenge of organising out-of-country voting for the first time and candidates could mostly campaign freely, but they were marked by widespread misuse of public resources and institutional power by the ruling party, while numerous reports of pressure on public employees and other voters as well as cases of intimidation were of concern, international observers said in a statement today.

Albania’s opposition continued protests against the government on Tuesday evening by blocking several roads in six towns and vowing to continue until the Socialist Party-led administration of Edi Rama is ousted. The opposition is calling for a technocratic caretaker government to lead the country until the 2025 elections, … .

Albania has finally opened accession talks with the European Union at an intergovernmental conference held in Luxembourg on Tuesday. … Albania’s Prime Minister, Edi Rama, declared that “the EU needs the Western Balkans as much as the Western Balkans needs the EU.

Preliminary data from Albania's Central Election Commission shows that the ruling Socialist Party is leading in the majority of municipalities in the country, including the capital Tirana.

Media freedom remains a problem in many Balkan states, with journalists working in highly polarised political environments and encountering threats from criminal groups, says Reporters Without Borders' 2022 World Press Freedom Index. … In the Balkans, the situation declined significantly in several countries including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece, according to Reporters Without Borders’ ranking system of 180 states worldwide.

The United States of America will establish a Special Forces Command in Albania. In an interview with DW, former NATO General Erhard Bühler explains why this news is an important signal to the region.

Relations between Albania and Kosovo have hit a new low after a German official indicated Berlin’s support for the disputed regional “Open Balkan” project, which Kosovo staunchly opposes.

The International Monitoring Operation, created to oversee a vetting process in Albania launched under EU and US pressure in 2017, issued a decision saying Tirana chief prosecutor Elizabeta Imeraj “has significantly jeopardised public trust in the judicial system” and should be removed from the post.

After winning parliamentary elections, MPs from the Socialist Party submitted a request for the dismissal of President Ilir Meta, claiming he unlawfully intervened to support the opposition in the electoral campaign.