Opposition deputy shot dead in Albania
AFP
TIRANA- An unidentified gunman shot dead an Albanian opposition deputy Saturday, less than two months before parliamentary elections will be held in the Balkan country, a police spokesman told AFP.
Fatmir Xhindi, 49, deputy of the opposition Socialist party, was killed by an automatic weapon around 10:10 pm (2010 GMT) not far from his home in Roskovec, 120 kilometres (70 miles) south of the capital Tirana, spokesman Klodian Branka told AFP.
No other details were immediately known.
Police are investigating the shooting, Branka said.
Albania which on Tuesday submitted its candidacy for membership of the European Union -- less than a month after joining the Western military alliance NATO -- is to hold parliamentary elections on June 28.
Since the fall of communism in the early 1990s, all elections in Albania -- a predominantly Muslim nation of 3.6 million that remains one of Europe's poorest countries -- have been disputed and marred by incidents.
Last November parliament adopted a new electoral law aimed at preventing fraud.
Albania's left-wing opposition wanted the EU candidacy papers submitted only after the June 28 elections, arguing there was a risk the application would otherwise remain a dead letter for a long time.
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Police are investigating the shooting, Branka said.
Albania which on Tuesday submitted its candidacy for membership of the European Union -- less than a month after joining the Western military alliance NATO -- is to hold parliamentary elections on June 28.
Since the fall of communism in the early 1990s, all elections in Albania -- a predominantly Muslim nation of 3.6 million that remains one of Europe's poorest countries -- have been disputed and marred by incidents.
Last November parliament adopted a new electoral law aimed at preventing fraud.
Albania's left-wing opposition wanted the EU candidacy papers submitted only after the June 28 elections, arguing there was a risk the application would otherwise remain a dead letter for a long time.
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