Socialist Party candidate for the Municipality of Rrogozhina, Edison Memolla emerged victorious after repeat local elections took place in this municipality.

According to official results reported by the Central Election Commission (CEC), Memolla got 6658 votes or 57.58% compared to his opponent from the opposition coalition “Together We Win”, Shkëlqim Hoxha who managed to get 4906 votes or 42.42%.

In his first reaction after the victory, Memolla thanked the citizens who voted for him and attributed his victory to a better political program than that of his opponent.

“The result shows we managed to find even our weak spots. This shows our program was better than that of the opponent. It was a house-to-house campaign and everyone was on the ground. It was an intensive work in all administrative units, extending a collaborative hand to everybody,” said Memolla.

Meanwhile, Mayor Erion Veliaj, who is also the Socialist Party political-leader of Tirana, thanked all citizens for “a support beyond our most optimistic expectations”.

“Democrats are not our enemies, they are not Sali [Berisha]. Their families don’t kill and rob, they don’t live eating each-other up. Democrats are our brothers and have committed a patriotic act today by voting left! This is a result that gives answers to everybody and ends absurd attempts of those who want to use the vote to protect themselves of the dirty acts they’ve committed. Citizens of Rrogozhina want people who work, not those who take advantage. This is the message, the mandate they gave us,” Veliaj said in a Facebook post.

In a midday press conference this Monday, Sali Berisha denounced the “repeat electoral farse”, claiming that Shkëlqim Hoxha’s victory was once again stolen.

“Behind last night’s result is an unseen terror exercised for over a month against citizens, businessmen and voters of Rrogozhina. Open manipulations were identified in this electoral farse, photographing of ballots, group voting, family voting, all these ugly methods. This entire farse was led by Erion Veliaj, who accepted that Albanians do not want them, even though they won. Thinking of votes being added after numerous scandals such as that of the Rraja clan, sexual scandals of officials… Veliaj says it openly as ordered by Rama, they won not because the citizens want them, but because they do not want Sali Berisha. Still, they are terrified of me,” Berisha declared during the press conference.

“With the robbed elections in Rrogozhina, Edi Rama and Erion Veliaj cannot cover the century’s robbery of incinerators… I invite all Albanians to oppose this regime. The opposition warned Albanians three months ago that there cannot be elections with Edi Rama. I invite all those who love this country and believe in its future, to stand for freedom and dignity,” concluded Berisha.

Meanwhile, there has been no reaction from the opposition candidate himself.

Why were there repeat elections in Rrogozhina?

After a legal challenge by the opposition coalition “Together We Win”, a decision to hold new partial local elections was taken.

The opposition contested the final election results and the CEC’s validation of those results. The specific issue arose from a ballot box in Rrogozhina prison, where the count favored the Socialist Party candidate, Edison Memolla. Out of 92 votes in that box, 80 were in favor of Memolla.

The Electoral College, in contrast to the Appeals and Sanctions Commission in the CEC, declared the prison polling station to be illegal and noted that the CEC did not properly verify its compliance with legal requirements. The opposition alleged that ineligible prisoners were allowed to vote in that facility, as they had been transferred there after the voter list was announced. They presented evidence to support these claims.

However, it was decided that prisoners would not be allowed to vote this time, due to time constraints and the absence of a decision from the Municipality. No polling station was set up in the prison based on the Electoral College’s ruling.

A total of 32,826 citizens were called to vote in 54 polling stations. Unlike the previous elections on May 14, they only had one ballot, which was for the mayoral candidate.

Turnout was higher than the May 14 local elections, with some 11,612 voters reported by the CEC, compared to 10,510 voters in the previous electoral process. The voting process was peaceful.

In the May 14 local elections, Memolla won by 5129 votes as opposed to 5108 votes gathered by Shkëlqim Hoxha. While the difference in the May elections was only 21 votes, the difference in the July 23 repeat elections was 1752 votes.