International monitors say Albania's June 30 local elections were held in a climate of political standoff and little attention was paid to the voters' interest.

The critical preliminary assessment on Monday came from Ambassador Audrey Glover, who headed the election observation mission from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

Speaking at a press conference, Glover said that Albanian opposition decided not to participate in the elections, but the government was determined to hold the elections. 

The findings of the observers concluded that mayoral candidates ran unopposed in 31 of 61 municipalities and voters often did not have a meaningful choice among political options.

"While a number of political parties, coalitions and groups of voters fielded candidates, the absence of the major opposition parties from the election considerably limited the choice of candidates for voters," Glover underlined, adding that the "initial refusal by the same parties to nominate members of election administration, plus the later politicized interpretation of electoral law, left the country's election management imbalanced and reduced trust in the elections."

Among the findings of the observers were credible allegations of voters being pressured by both sides.

"We saw evidence that voters were pressured by all political sides. This, along with polarized media focusing on the political crisis rather than providing impartial information about candidates, kept some voters from making free and informed choices," Glover added. 

The preliminary results published on the official website of the Albanian Central Elections Commission (CEC) showed on Monday that the candidates of the ruling Socialist majority are leading in the mayoral elections.

According to the CEC data, ballot counting has ended in 24 out of 61 municipalities across the country and the ruling Socialist Party (SP) has won all 24 of them.

Late on Sunday evening, CEC spokesperson Drilona Hoxhaj told a press conference that the election process ended peacefully all over the country.

"A total of 771,863 people used their vote on Sunday, with a voting turnout of 21.6 percent," Hoxhaj said.

Speaking to reporters and his supporters in a press conference on Sunday evening, Albanian Prime Minister and SP leader Edi Rama declared that during Sunday's elections the winner was the future of Albania, and the loser was the Albania of yesterday. 

"June 30 was the day of an Albania that faced for several months' political division, which was inspired, encouraged and organized to stop the moving forward towards the European social normality, the democratic cohabitation and the integrity of Albania," Rama said.

The Prime Minister declared that he is ready to hold dialogue with the opposition and work together for the opening of accession negotiation with the European Union in October, adding that the opposition must stop insulting Albania in foreign languages. 

Reacting to elections, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party Lulzim Basha told reporters that 85 percent of Albanians refused to vote in this farce elections organized by the majority.

Ballot counting for the new mayors and city councils is underway in other municipalities across Albania. Over 3.5 million people were registered to vote on Sunday to elect mayors and city councils' members in 61 districts, and an estimated 21 percent cast their ballots in 5,410 polling stations across the country. 

(With input from Xinhua)

(Cover: Albanian President Ilir Meta delivers a speech during a news conference in Tirana, Albania, June 10, 2019. /Reuters Photo)