Tirana - Up to 2 million Albanians went to the polls yesterday in what looked like one of the country's most peaceful elections since the end of communism 10 years ago. The ruling socialist coalition government was hoping to win a second term in office and defeat an alliance of centre-right parties led by former President Sali Berisha.
Gunmen broke into one voting station and burned ballot papers in the north of the country, and two men were injured in a shooting outside a polling booth in the capital Tirana. But those incidents appeared insignificant compared to the widespread anarchy that surrounded the last general election of 1997, held after the collapse of pyramid banking schemes.