2001 Albanian parliamentary election

The Assembly of Albania has 140 members of whom 100 are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies and 40 members are elected through a party-list proportional representation system.[3]

President Rexhep Meidani announced on 18 April 2001 that the first round of the elections would be held on 24 June, with the second round on 8 July.[4] The governing Socialist Party had the aim of gaining 60% of the vote, in order to have a sufficient majority to elect a new president in 2002. They campaigned on infrastructure improvements such as communication and transport and on their record in restoring order and economic growth.[5] They were also boosted by achieving the opening of negotiations with the European Union on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement just before the election.[6]

The main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Albania led by ex-President Sali Berisha, had moderated their message after losing the 2000 local elections. They formed a coalition of right wing parties, the Union for Victory Coalition, and said that they were open to dealing with other parties if they won the election.[6] They hoped to make gains due to public concern over corruption and the continuing poverty in Albania.[5]

The campaign was generally peaceful and with no reliable opinion polls most observers expected the ruling Socialists to be re-elected with a smaller majority.[7]

Both main parties initially claimed victory after the first round on the 24 June in which turnout reached about 60%. The governing Socialist party claimed that they won 45 of the 100 seats.[8] Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) described the election as having made progress towards international democratic standards.[5] However the opposition Democratic party claimed there was widespread intimidation and electoral fraud.[8] Procedural differences led to polling stations being kept closed in Lushnje leading to voting having to be delayed for about 30,000 people.[9] The results of the first round showed that the Socialists won 33 seats as against 17 won by the Democrats.[10]

A run-off vote to decide the winner in 51 districts where no candidate won over half the vote in the first round was held on 8 July. Another 40 seats were decided in proportion to the share of the vote each party won.[11]

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				Constituency	Compensatory	Total	+/–
	Socialist Party of Albania	555,272	42.27	73	0	73	–27
	Union for Victory Coalition	494,272	37.63	25	21	46	+15
	New Democratic Party	68,181	5.19	0	6	6	New
	Social Democratic Party of Albania	48,911	3.72	0	4	4	–5
	Unity for Human Rights Party	34,897	2.66	0	3	3	–1
	Democratic Alliance Party	34,262	2.61	0	3	3	+1
	Environmentalist Agrarian Party	34,247	2.61	0	3	3	+2
	Democratic Party of Albania	13,867	1.06	0	0	0	–
	Demochristian Party of Albania	12,226	0.93	0	0	0	–2
	Social Christian Party of Albania	9,224	0.70	0	0	0	New
	Albanian Democratic Union Party	8,123	0.62	0	0	0	0
	Independents			2	0	2	–1
Total		1,313,482	100.00	100	40	140	–15
Valid votes		1,290,677	96.32
Invalid/blank votes		49,310	3.68
Total votes		1,339,987	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,499,238	53.62
Source: Nohlen & Stöver,[lower-alpha 1] Adam Carr

The constitutional court ruled that voting had to be repeated in eight districts on 22 July and a further two on 29 July.[12] International observers described the elections as a whole as having been free and fair.[13] However the opposition Democrats said they would not accept the results. They described the election as a farce and started a boycott of Parliament.[13] The boycott lasted for six months until January 2002 when Sali Berisha announced that his party was returning to Parliament.[14]

• List of constituency results