Small Albanian left-wing parties have withdrawn their registrations to stand in the June 25 general election so that all their support goes to the governing Socialist Party (SP) led by Prime Minister Edi Rama.
The decision taken by the 23 parties is a strategy to prevent votes being wasted by uniting their voters behind the SP, which needs to win 71 of the 140 seats in the Albanian parliament to continue governing. The Socialists' current coalition partner, the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI), recently decided to run alone in the June election.
"Our votes should be given to the SP otherwise we would obtain no mandates if running alone in the election," Petro Koci, leader of the True Socialist Party ’91, was cited by Albanian Daily News.
Koci also urged other small left-wing parties that have not yet withdrawn their registrations with the central election commission to do so. In a statement on his Facebook page, he promised to reveal more about the parties' tactical voting plans.
The registration process for the election has been extended to May 26, after the Socialist Party and the opposition Democratic Party struck a deal that opened the way for the opposition to participate in the upcoming election.
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