June 23 (SeeNews) - Albania will hold regular general elections on June 25 - its eighth vote for parliament since 1992.
A total of 18 parties and coalitions are running for 140 seats in parliament. The elections will be held under the system of proportional representation.
Members of parliament are elected for a four-year term.
The elections, initially scheduled for June 18, were postponed by a week under an agreement reached last month between the government and the opposition. Under the deal the opposition, which had refused to take part in the elections and had boycotted parliament sessions since February, returned to parliament and registered for the elections. In exchange, the government agreed to the appointment of a caretaker cabinet, in which the leader of the Socialist Party (PS) Edi Rama remained prime minister, to organise the vote.
At the previous parliamentary elections held in June 2013, PS defeated the then ruling Democratic Party (PD) led by Sali Berisha, who served as prime minister for two successive terms between 2005 and 2013.
The main contenders in Sunday's vote are the ruling PS, and main opposition PD, now led by former Tirana mayor, Lulzim Basha, who became party leader following Sali Berisha's resignation in 2013.
Another key contender is the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI), the junior coalition partner in Edi Rama's elected government. LSI had been founded by current Albanian president Ilir Meta, is led by former healthcare minister Petrit Vasili.
According to the results of several opinion polls published by local media, PS is expected to win between 43 and 52 percent of the vote. PD is forecast to come in second with 28-36 percent, while LSI is expected to win between 9 and 13 percent.
PS has 59 deputies in the outgoing parliament, PD had 41 and LSI - 18.
A total of 3.45 million Albanian citizens are eligible to vote.
Albania's population totalled 2.88 million in January 2017, according to the office of national statistics, INSTAT. The number of Albanians residing abroad was estimated at 1.12 million in 2015 by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations .
Polling stations will open 0700 CET and close at 1900 CET on Sunday.
Sources:
Albania's Central Election Commission
Albanian Ministry of the Interior
INSTAT
Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations