The Commission for Appeals and Sanctions (CAS) near the Central Election Commission decided on Tuesday to reject the request of the Democrats in declaring elections in Durres as invalid.
On the other hand, CAS accepted another request made by the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) to recount 108 ballot boxes in the same county, a process that is set to begin on Wednesday at 10 AM.
DP called for revoting amid claims of vote-buying. Its representatives contend to have a list of 300 people who were allegedly paid to cast their vote for the Socialists in Durres.
CAS responded that the evidence was “insufficient” and “inconclusive” but allowed access to data from electronic identification devices used at the polls.
The Socialists received 13.000 more votes than the Democrats in Durres, while the SMI could not secure a mandate despite winning 9.400 votes.
Therefore, out of the total of 14 mandates allocated to the county of Durres, 8 went to the Socialists and 6 to the Democrats.
SMI’s claims to recount the ballots were based on its 136-vote difference with the SP, which could have secured the former a seat in parliament.
Earlier on, the party’s Secretary for Electoral Affairs Silva Caka told Euronews Albania that camera footage indicated “fraudulent activity during the counting process”.
Caka went further on to add that there were at least 60 ballots cast for the SMI which had been altered, and another 200 assigned unfairly to the SP.
A similar request was also made for the county of Berat however, the recounting process did not yield any significant result which could have overturned the result.
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