Albanians vote for new mayor of ethnic Greek town

QEPARO, Albania — Albanians in the southwestern town of Himara are to vote Sunday for a new mayor after their previous choice, a member of the country's ethnic Greek minority, was stripped of his title, convicted and imprisoned on vote-buying charges in what he and neighboring Greece have claimed was a politically motivated case.


Voting started on Sunday with less than 7% of about 23,000 voters casting their ballots in the first two hours, according to the Central Election Commission, the country's governing election body. The process is normal and without any problems so far, it said. Some minor technical issues in some polling stations, with the election documentation, management or voters' identity cards have been reported by local media.


Media also has reported that at least four buses have come from neighboring Greece with locally registered voters. Both rival candidates have invested in bringing Albanian immigrants back to cast their ballots, a normal move in every election in the tiny Balkan country.


The case against Fredis Beleris, a dual Albanian-Greek national who was elected to the European Parliament with Greece's governing conservative party in June, has strained relations between Tirana and Athens, with Greece threatening to hold up Albania's bid to join the European Union.


Beleris, 51, was arrested two days before the May 14, 2023, municipal elections in Himara, a town populated by ethnic Greeks on what has been dubbed the Albanian Riviera, a coastal region with burgeoning tourist development that has been rife with property disputes. He was charged and ultimately convicted of offering about 40,000 Albanian leks (360 euros, $390) to buy eight votes, and is serving a two-year prison sentence.


Both candidates in Sunday's election — governing Socialist Party candidate Vangiel Tavo and Petraq Gjikuria from the Together We Win coalition — are members of the local ethnic Greek community. Gjikuria's 10-party coalition includes the main opposition's center-right Democratic Party of former Prime Minister Sali Berisha and the left-wing Freedom Party of former President Ilir Meta.


The issue of property and its potential exploitation as part of Albania's tourism boom has been at the center of both candidates' campaigns.


In the aftermath of the fall of Albania's communist regime in the early 1990s, property that had previously been seized by the state was distributed among residents. But this often led to disputes by those who claimed original ownership of land and homes before they were confiscated. The issue is further complicated in Himara, an area seen as potentially lucrative for future property development, by claims of ethnic bias in land distribution.


Tavo has said he will complete a process begun by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama a few months ago to provide Himara residents with property ownership certificates, while Gjikuria has pledged to better defend residents' property rights.


The Socialists currently dominate the Town Hall's assembly.


Beleris won last year's election with a 19-vote lead, backed by parties opposing Rama's governing Socialists. But he never took office, being detained until his conviction in March. An appeals court in June upheld his conviction and Albanian authorities stripped him of his title of mayor.


Beleris was given a five-day leave from prison to attend the European Parliament's opening session in Strasbourg last month, and returned to Albania to serve out the rest of his sentence.


Although European Parliament members enjoy immunity from prosecution within the 27-state bloc, even for allegations relating to crimes committed prior to their election, Albania is not an EU member.


Beleris has claimed the case against him is politically motivated as an attempt by Rama to retain control of Himara and its potentially lucrative property potential. Albanian officials strongly reject those claims, citing the independence of the judiciary.