1996 Albanian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Albania on 26 May 1996, with a second round of voting for 25 seats on 2 June.[1][2] The result was a victory for the ruling Democratic Party of Albania, which won 122 of the 140 seats. Voter turnout was 89.1%.[3]

On the day of the first round of voting, six opposition parties led by the Socialist Party of Albania withdrew from the election, accusing the Democratic Party of intimidation.[4] International observers noted that the elections were marred by "a number of irregularities and technical shortcomings" and concluded that the election "did not meet international standards for free and fair elections", nor the standards of Albanian law.[2] After the first round results were released on 29 May, the Socialist Party of Albania announced that they would not take up their seats in the National Assembly. Almost all opposition parties boycotted the second round as a result.[2]

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/-
	Democratic Party of Albania	914,218	55.5	122	+30
	Socialist Party of Albania	335,402	20.4	10	-28
	Republican Party of Albania	94,567	5.7	3	+2
	National Front	81,822	5.0	2	New
	Unity for Human Rights Party	66,529	4.0	3	+1
	Other parties	153,943	9.3	0	–
Invalid/blank votes		316,863	–	–	–
Total		1,826,142	100	140	0
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p133 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Albania: Elections in 1996 Inter-Parliament
3. Nohlen & Stöver, p139
4. "Kur opozita rrihej barbarisht/ 28 maj 1996, socialistët protestonin për zgjedhjet e manipuluara" (in Albanian). Top-Channel.tv. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.