Socialists regain control of Himara Municipality in local by-elections
Vangjel Tavo of the Socialist Party emerged victorious in the Himara by-elections that were held on Sunday August 4, securing 1,477 more votes than his rival, Petro Gjikuria of the opposition coalition. The vote-counting process concluded on Monday morning after 36 polling centers had been tallied.
Why is this significant
Himara has been at the heart of the tensions in relations between Greece and Albania ever since the arrest in flagrante for vote buying of the previous, Greek sponsored candidate Fredi Beleri who won by a narrow margin of just 18 votes against the incumbent Socialist mayor, Gjergji Goro.
Context
According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), Vangjel Tavo, the candidate endorsed by the Socialist Party of Albania, received 5,022 votes or 58.62% of the total. His opponent, Petraq Gjikuria of the coalition “Bashkë Fitojmë” (Together We Win), garnered 3,545 votes, or 41.38%.
The vote-counting process proceeded smoothly, under the supervision of the CEC’s technical staff. Preliminary results were updated in real time on the CEC’s official website.
Following the announcement of the final count, Vangjel Tavo extended an invitation to his competitor, Petro Gjikuria, to join forces and work together for the betterment of Himara.
Prime Minister Edi Rama hailed the victory as spectacular and promised to leverage it to transform Himara into one of the Mediterranean’s premier destinations by 2030. He emphasized plans to attract tourism industry professionals from Greece by offering better wages.
Meanwhile, the opposition did not wait for the counting process to conclude before expressing their dissatisfaction. They alleged electoral manipulation and criticized the majority for tampering with voter lists and employing other mechanisms to skew the results.
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