Government of Albania

The Socialist Party led by Prime Minister Edi Rama is ahead in most municipalities in the country after Sunday's local elections and has already won three, Kamza, Vora and Elbasan, where the voting took place electronically and the Central Election Commission was able to declare the results a few hours after polls closed.

Albania's Socialist Prime Minister, Edi Rama, has rejected opposition claims of blackmailing voters over access to government funds.

On Wednesday he said his threats to block funds to municipalities run by opposition mayors were a consequence of opposition leader Sali Berisha's designation by the US State Department as "being involved in significant corruption".

Albania's opposition Democratic Party, which is riven by factions, will be able to run in the May local elections after all - after the Commission of Sanctions and Complaints, CSC, overturned an earlier decision of the Commissioner of Elections not to let it run.

The temporary resignation of the former leader of the opposition Democratic Party Lulzim Basha in March last year has prevented the party from registering for the May local elections.

This is because some key documents submitted to the Central Elections Commission, CEC, should have had his signature.

After Albania's Court of Appeals failed to end to the main opposition Democratic Party's leadership battle, the rival two groups within the party on Monday both submitted their applications to the Central Elections Commission for the local elections on May 14.

Albania's Appeal Court has ordered a retrial in the long-lasting case that should determine who will hold the seal of the main opposition centre-right Democratic Party.

A pro-opposition media group in Albania on Friday accused the Socialist government of Prime Minister Edi Rama of harassing its owner businesses to force it to change its editorial line - an accusation the government has rejected.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a reaction against Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama's statements that Bulgaria blocked the start of the country's EU membership negotiations for 8 years.

Albania PM Edi Rama during a press conference following the Western Balkans Summit in Tirana. Photo: LSA

Prime Minister Edi Rama lashed out at local media after an off-duty police officer accidentally killed a child with his boat at sea, likening them to animals.

After a trial that lasted just seven days, Leka, then 36, and Blloshmi, 29, were sentenced to death and then executed on the night of July 17, 1977.

Born in the same village - Berzheshte, in the Librazhd area - the two poets lived a short and difficult life under Hoxha's regime, which kept the country isolated from the democratic world for more than four decades.