Despite Violence, Election Called Fair
Minor violence marred Albania’s first general election since the country plunged into anarchy in 1997, but local election monitors said that, despite some irregularities, voting had generally been fair.
Prime Minister Ilir Meta’s Socialists were widely expected to be reelected with a reduced majority.
A man shot two election officials after getting into a dispute with them at a polling station in Tirana, the capital, the Public Order Ministry said. Neither was seriously hurt.
In the 1997, an Italian-led peacekeeping force restored order after months of anarchy started by the collapse of fraudulent pyramid investment schemes.
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