Albanian Elections Less Than Free, Fair, Washington Asserts

WASHINGTON —  The United States faulted Albanian elections for being less than free and fair but called on Albania’s citizens Wednesday to help the new multi-party system work.

State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said that Sunday’s elections were the first step on a long road toward freedom in Albania, but she added that only “a partial foundation has been laid for political pluralism and democracy.”

“Based on reports from U.S. observers and other international election monitors, it appears that the electoral process fell short in several key areas of CSCE (Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe) standards for free and fair elections,” she said.

Albania’s largest opposition party, the Democrats, has called for a one-day general strike in protest over the death of three people in demonstrations against the Communists’ election victory.

Meanwhile, tens of thousand of Albanians massed in the grim industrial city of Shkoder for the funeral of a local Democratic Party leader who was one of the victims.

Tutwiler said opposition parties had only limited access to government-controlled media during the run-up to elections, while official parties enjoyed “overwhelming” use of state resources.