Albania’s ruling Socialist Party (SP) is poised to secure a fourth consecutive term in office after preliminary results from Sunday’s parliamentary election showed a strong nationwide lead.
According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), early projections show the Socialist Party leading with 83 seats in the 140-seat parliament. The opposition coalition, comprised of the Democratic Party (DP) and the Alliance for a Great Albania (AGA), is projected to win 51 seats.
The Social Democratic Party ranks third with 3 seats, while three smaller parties – Albania is Rising, Opportunity Party, and Together Movement – are each expected to win one seat.
With results from 1,445 out of 5,225 polling stations counted, the Socialists had secured 186,844 votes, or 52.7% of the vote. The DP-led opposition followed with 121,619 votes, or 34.3%.
Opposition leader and former prime minister Sali Berisha, who is currently entangled in legal battles, has struggled to rally support, resulting in a significant decline for the opposition bloc.
Diaspora favors Socialists
Albania’s diaspora has also shown support for the Socialist Party. Out of 977 overseas ballots counted so far, the Socialists received 47.23%, ahead of the DP–AGA coalition with 38.60%. A total of 1,660 envelopes have been counted out of over 194,000 received from abroad.
Smaller parties gain limited representation
The Social Democratic Party secured 13,219 votes (3.7%) and three seats. The Albania is Rising coalition received 12,367 votes (3.5%), the Opportunity Party won 9,310 votes (2.6%), and the Together Movement received 4,407 votes (1.2%) — each translating to one seat in parliament.
Other minor parties, including the Euro-Atlantic Coalition, Right Coalition for Development, New Democracy Alliance, Albanian National Alliance, and Homeland Movement, received less than 1.2% of the vote and are not expected to gain parliamentary representation.
Key shifts in Dibra and Elbasan
In Dibra County, the Socialist Party overturned the previous result, winning 58.6% of the vote and securing three seats, up from two in 2021. The DP dropped from three to two seats. In Elbasan, the Socialists expanded their lead, increasing their seat count from 8 to 10, while the opposition fell from 6 to 4.
Vote counting continues across the country and final results are expected in the coming days.