Can a majority-Muslim country maintain a viable republic for any length of time?
No.
AP has the story:
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — An exchange of gunfire near a polling station wounded a candidate for parliament and left dead a supporter of a rival party during Albania’s national elections on Sunday, tainting what had been a largely peaceful campaign season and threatening to further undermine the nation’s bid to join the European Union.
Maybe that was the intent, i.e. ‘to further undermine’? Anyway, something like that is to be expected of bloodthirsty Albanians, i.e. Muslim allies of the West?
The violence, which drew condemnation from an EU official, added to the already existing uncertainty surrounding the election: because of a political dispute, it’s unclear when the vote results will be announced.
A police spokesman said Gjon Gjoni, 49, died after being shot in an exchange of fire that also wounded Mhill Fufi, 49, a candidate for Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s governing Democratic Party. An opposition party leader identified Gjoni as a supporter. Another man, Fufi’s relative Kastriot Fufi, 39, was also wounded.
It was not immediately clear who exactly did the shooting. The incident took place in the city of Lac, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Tirana, and started with an argument, said the police spokesman, Tefik Sulejmani, who gave few other details.
A spokeswoman for the ruling Democratic Party, Laura Vorpsi, said Mhill Fufi was trying to move away some opposition supporters who were trying to bribe voters, and alleged that those opposition supporters “responded with shooting rounds.”
“The Democratic Party harshly denounces any act of violence,” Vorpsi said.
Once one of the world’s most hardline communist countries, Albania has had a rocky road to democracy. Corruption has plagued the impoverished country, and its elections have been marred by violence and vote-rigging.
The conservative prime minister, Berisha, and his close rival, Socialist Party leader Edi Rama, both hope Albania can gain eventual entry to the EU, and Sunday’s election is seen as a test of whether the country can run a fair and safe vote.
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More here.
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