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PRESS RELEASE
ASSOCIATED
PRESS
15/10/2000
ALBANIAN
GREEK RELATIONS TENSE OVER BALLOT IN SOUTHERN TOWN
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Å |
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ASSOCIATED
PRESS
15/10/2000
ALBANIAN GREEK
RELATIONS TENSE OVER BALLOT IN SOUTHERN TOWN
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By MERITA DHIMGJOKA
HIMARA, Albania (AP) - A runoff municipal election in a southern
Albanian
town on Sunday has heightened tensions between Albania and neighboring
Greece , which claims the ethnic Greek minority has been prevented
from
voting.
The Albanian government has denied the charge, saying the population
in
Himara, a town about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Tirana, is
ethnic
Albanian and the voting in the first round was free and fair.
On Saturday, the Greek government issued a "strong protest"
claiming 600
ethnic Greeks from Albania working in Greece were prevented from
entering
Albania to vote.
The Albanian Interior Ministry said all passengers were allowed to
cross the
border, although some buses had been stopped because their papers were
not
in order. Passengers were then transported across the border in other
vehicles.
Tensions were particularly high on Sunday in Himara, where attention
focused
on the race between the ruling Socialist Party candidate for mayor and
the
rival candidate of the Party of Unity of Human Rights, known as the
Greek
minority party, which receives substantial support from Greece .
Unofficial preliminary results showed the Socialist candidate ahead in
the
Himara mayoral race.
Eight Greek parliamentarians had been sent to the town to monitor the
voting, and several Albanian officials were present.
Albania's top authorities, including Prime Minister Ilir Meta and
Socialist
Party leader Fatos Nano, visited Himara more than once recently to
urge the
local population to vote for the Socialist candidate.
The dispute became a national issue, with the local media and
prominent
public figures calling on about 6,000 voters in Himara, "to vote
for
Albania."
Relations between Greece and Albania have often frozen over claims by
Greece
of mistreatment of ethnic Greeks in southern Albania.
Such crises have always been followed by the forced deportation of
illegal
Albanian emigrants working in Greece .
The size of Albanian's Greek minority is disputed. Greece says there
are
about 400,000, Albania puts the number at around 40,000, while the
United
States estimates 90,000.
In Oct. 1 balloting, the ruling Socialists won in 28 out of 65
municipalities, and in 138 communes out of 365 across the country,
while the
opposition Democratic Party of former President Sali Berisha won only
in
nine municipalities and 97 communes.
Sunday's run-off took place in 28 municipalities and 128 communes,
where
none of the candidates won by a clear majority with over 50 percent of
the
vote. The second round of balloting was largely symbolic, as the
opposition
Democrats called the first round "manipulated" and
"unfair" and have
boycotted the runoff.
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