ALBANIA: In what is considered a dramatic shake-up of power in the Balkans, Albania seems set for a change of government after a bitterly fought general election campaign.
With about 80 per cent of the votes counted, the right-of-centre Democratic Party, led by Sali Berisha, is set to seize power from the Socialist Party of Fatos Nano, prime minister for the last four years.
Mr Berisha and Mr Nano, who both held senior positions under the pre-1991 hardline communist regime, are fierce political foes, and there are fears of unrest and violence if a new administration seeks to take revenge on its political opponents.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which had more than 300 international observers monitoring the election, gave a guarded endorsement of the voting process on Monday, saying that despite some irregularities only a few violent incidents - including one death - had been reported.
The EU had said the conducting of fair elections was a key element as to whether Tirana would sign preliminary agreements with Brussels which at some point in the future could lead to EU membership for this country of 3.2 million, one of Europe's poorest.
The EU has also repeatedly expressed concern about the inability of successive Albanian governments to tackle the increasingly sophisticated and violent activities of an Albanian mafia operating in Europe.
EU police agencies say Albania is now the main transit point for heroin from Afghanistan flooding into Europe's cities. The heroin arrives in Albania via Turkey, Bulgaria and Macedonia before being shipped from ports in Albania to Italy.
"We do not talk in kilos any more but in tonnes of drugs," said a senior Western diplomat in Tirana. "Albania is like a big drugs warehouse."
Mr Berisha has promised wide-ranging economic reforms and a big push against corruption which is alleged to involve several people who have held senior government positions.
However, such action could prove dangerous. Three or four rich business monopolies control a large segment of the country's economic activity. The supporters of Mr Nano, who is expected to resign in the next few days, could take to the streets if there is any wholesale purge against his government officials.
Also, although Mr Berisha has pulled off one of the Balkans' biggest political surprises of recent years, he is, like Mr Nano, considered to be part of the old guard.
In 1997 Mr Berisha was forced to resign as president following the collapse of government-backed pyramid schemes.