Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991                   TAG: 9104040149
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

VOTE TAINTED IN ALBANIA, U.S. SAYS

Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler called on Albanian authorities to investigate charges of electoral abuses and to redress grievances.

The Party of Labor - the Communist Party's official name - won 162 of the 250 seats in the unicameral People's Assembly in Albania's first democratic elections in more than 60 years. The Democratic Party won 65 seats.

Based on reports from U.S. observers and other international election monitors, Tutwiler said, it appears the electoral process "fell short" in several key areas of international standards for free and fair elections.

"During the campaign, the opposition parties were allowed only limited access to the government-controlled media, although they were allotted some time for televised political broadcasts and were able to publish newspapers that received partial dissemination," she said.

Official parties enjoyed overwhelming use of state resources, while opposition parties had limited access to these resources, she added.

There are also credible reports, she said, of widespread intimidation against opposition candidates and activists during the campaign and on election day.

"It is questionable why the authorities delayed issuing official election results for over two days, and that the list of winning and losing candidates contained no vote count," Tutwiler said.

She said the electoral shortcomings did not invalidate the process entirely. The balloting, she said, was a "first step on the long road to democracy. A partial foundation has been laid for political pluralism and democracy."