Photo Gallery Albania's Divide
Albanian police standing guard in front of the Central Election Commission in mid-May during unrest following the May 8 local elections which saw Socialist Party leader Edi Rama lose the Tirana mayoral election following a recount. He accuses his opponents of having manipulated the vote.
Then-mayor of Tirana, Edi Rama, winks at the camera as he cast his ballot at the May 8 election. Rama continues to contest the result of the vote couting, blaming his archenemy, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, for playing a role in rigging the outcome.
Albanian opposition lawmakers angrily attempt to push through the police line at the election commission in Tirana to protest the vote. For Rama's followers, the recount was clearly manipulated. Rama's appeal of the vote was rejected on June 3 and he has predicted protests that would "paralyze" the country.
Albanian supporters of Socialist candidate and long-time mayor of Tirana, Edi Rama, protest in front of the country's federal election commission on May 21, following a disputed mayoral election last month. Rama was first thought to have won the election by 10 votes, but a recount gave it to his opponent from Prime Minister Sali Berisha's Democratic Party.
Rama's rival, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha: During the recent election campaign, members of Rama's Socialist Party and Berisha's Democratic Party openly brawled. One of the candidates of the Democratic Party was shot at, and an explosive device blew up in front of a Socialist Party member's house.
The election controversy is a setback to the country's efforts to join the European Union. Political tensions in Albania recently prompted EU President José Manuel Barroso a planned trip to Tirana.
Tempers were high prior to the election as well. Here, a car burns as a result of riots between Socialist Party supporters and police. Gunshots were fired in the melee.
