Elections in Albania: desire for continuity and disillusionment at the exit of the polling stations
Audio 01:30
Checking the ballot box after the ballot in the Albanian parliamentary elections at a polling station in Tirana, April 25, 2021. AP - Hektor Pustina
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
The Albanians vote this Sunday, April 25 for legislative elections which take place after a tense electoral campaign.
An important stake in the poll, participation was high in the polling stations in Tirana this morning.
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With our correspondent in Tirana,
Louis Seiller
Mask on the chin, Nevila leaves one of the 1,200 polling stations in Tirana with his stroller.
At 38, the mother of two voted for the Socialist Party in power for eight years.
“
Schools, education, the health system, the police… Thanks to them, a lot of things have really improved!
she tells us
.
Before, the police were a disaster!
She didn't even have gasoline for her vans!
"
A satisfaction that Albana does not share.
This 50-year-old voted for the opposition.
“
Things have to change,
” she claims
.
More jobs, higher wages… That way, young people will no longer be forced to emigrate.
This is what we want.
"
►
To read also: Albania: test elections for democracy
"
Society subject to the oligarchs
"
Many Albanians no longer trust a political class they consider corrupt.
At 83, Usni doesn't expect much from these
elections
: “
Life is difficult here.
Those who rule us are wolves.
This vote does not really interest me, but I do not want to differentiate myself from the others by not going to vote.
"
Back in Albania after doing odd jobs in France, Roden stays away from the polling station.
The young man does not yet know if he will vote.
"
Our society is completely subject to the oligarchs and politicians who have been abusing citizens for years,"
Roden laments
.
If the rulers change, those who come will be exactly the same as the others.
It's the same thing !
"
If the results promise to be tight, Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama hopes to win a third term.
Which would be a first since the establishment of democracy thirty years ago.
►
To read also: In the News: legislative in Albania, impossible wind of change?
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