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| - Albania's prime minister looked set for a third term in power on Monday, as preliminary election results gave his Socialist Party a commanding lead. Edi Rama, in power since 2013, has not yet claimed victory following Sunday's poll, which was closely watched in European capitals as Albania pushes to open talks on EU membership. But the Socialists had captured almost 49 percent of the vote after counting was completed from two-thirds of polling stations, election commission figures showed. An opposition alliance under the Democrat Party was on just over 39 percent and another party opposed to Rama was polling at almost 7 percent. The campaign was marked by personal insults between candidates and further deteriorated in the final week when a gunfight between rival supporters left one person dead. Despite the febrile atmosphere, voting day itself passed off peacefully, with US and EU ambassadors urging all sides to stay calm and wait for the official result. However, shortly after polls closed Democrat leader Lulzim Basha said his side had clearly won and renewed the claim on Monday, telling reporters: "The alliance for change's victory is indisputable." Albanian election results are often disputed and have led to mass protests and boycotts of parliament in the past. Despite the Socialists' lead, local media are reporting that the votes may not translate into the 71 parliamentary seats they need to govern alone. And experts warned that provisional data needed to be treated with caution as final results are not expected until Tuesday. The prime minister -- a former basketball player and keen artist -- posted a photo of the sunrise on Facebook with the words: "What a dawn in Tirana!" During his time in office, he has focused on ambitious infrastructure projects and during the election campaign made much of a promise to vaccinate 500,000 people against coronavirus by the end of May. But the tiny Balkans country of 2.8 million people remains one of Europe's poorest, and NGOs regard it as one of the continent's most corrupt. The European Union agreed to open formal membership talks last year in a country overwhelmingly in favour of joining, but no date has yet been set for the first meeting. The bloc has also demanded reforms including of the judiciary and the electoral system, making this vote a crucial milestone in the country's path to membership. Rama and Basha traded insults throughout the campaign, joined by President Ilir Meta -- a former Socialist who set up a splinter movement and makes no secret of his contempt for the prime minister. The president caused consternation last week by declaring that "pitchforks" would be at the ready in case the Socialists rigged the ballot. A row over allegations of vote-buying in a city near the capital Tirana in the final week of the campaign led to a gunfight between Democrat and Socialist supporters, leaving one dead. Many voters have expressed frustration with the toxic political culture, corruption and lack of opportunities for young people that has helped push some 1.7 million Albanians to move abroad. "We are tired, young people study and train to find work, promises follow and then we get nothing," finance expert Mariela Sherrja, 26, told AFP. bme-jxb/spm
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