Albanian Parliamentary Election: The Source of Rama’s Landslide Victory

The May elections were a critical test for Albania's progress on the road to EU membership. Albania’s political landscape is dominated by two major parties, the Democratic Party (DP) led by Sali Berisha and the Socialist Party (SP) led by Edi Rama. For the first time, three new parties gained ground and made it into Parliament. This article explores what were the parties strategies for May election. Although the new parties won a large proportion of the vote, they are not in a position to influence policy or reforms. The SP secured an absolute majority with 52% of overall votes, in seats (83 out of 140), falling just one vote short of the majority required for Constitutional amendments. However, the OSCE highlighted a number of irregularities: voter intimidation, vote-buying, misuse of state funds, involvement of civil servants in the election campaign, and unbalanced media coverage. The article addresses four questions: First, how can Rama's landslide victory be explained? Second, what was wrong with the opposition parties’ strategy? Third, what are the prospects for the next four years under Rama's government? Finally, can the competitiveness of elections in Albania be perceived as a facade?