The acting Minister of Infrastructure Belinda Balluku is so far the most voted candidate of the Socialist Party in Tirana.
As ballots for preferential candidates are still being counted in 180 out of 1.243 counting stations in Tirana, Balluku is way ahead of other candidates with 5.102 votes – nearly twice more than the candidate coming in second, Fatmir Xhafaj.
As of 4 PM, over 226,800 citizens had voted for the Socialists in the capital, as opposed to around 182,330 for the Democrats. Click here to check out the interactive map.
In a simple calculation, out of the 36 mandates that Tirana has, the Socialists won 18 seats in parliament which will go to the first 18 candidates in the primary list, which may be subject to change in case a candidate below that rank overpasses the quotient.
The quotient is the average needed by a party to secure a seat in parliament. In the case of the Socialist Party, the quotient is 16.602 votes, which means that a candidate that is below number 18 from the primary candidate list must gather more than 12.602 in order to start competing for a post in the list of winners.
Having said that – if the trend persists – candidates like Fatmir Xhafaj (23), Ornaldo Rakipi (30), Pandeli Majko (19), Halit Valteri (35), and Eljo Hyska (33) may seriously bring down Arben Pëllumbi (8), Toni Gogu (11), Fidel Ylli (15) or Eduard Shalsi (18).
Strong competition has also been anticipated between candidates Mimi Kodheli (21) and Dallëndyshe Mici (22) which might bring down Najado Çomo (2) and Ermonela Valikaj (13).
