The Albanian government has contacted representatives of the KLA Enough with Milošević, Prime Minister Fatos Nano sounds the alarm in Vienna

BY FRROK ÇUPI The day before yesterday, voting took place for partial local-government elections in several municipalities and towns across the country. The results were announced yesterday and favored the Alliance for the State, along with some victories for opposition political forces... The philosophical and mental essence of the electoral act was this: Nobody was surprised. Were people surprised that the Alliance for the State won a majority? Some had expected this. They based this on the fact that the government, in office for nearly a year, has often faced criticism and dissatisfaction for failing to fulfill the hopes of the June 1997 voters. This is a fact, but nevertheless Albanian citizens, like people everywhere, are patient and reasonable enough to know how to distinguish between what is good, what is less good, what is even less good; what is bad and what is very bad. The great evil was left behind in last June’s general election, and nobody wants to return to it. Not even those who voted for the Alliance’s opposition. But meanwhile, the strange phenomenon of stolen votes persists, when “everyone votes for one party,” as in 1996. Were people surprised that the opposition, which includes some of those responsible for last year’s tragedy, won some of the votes? This, too, is inexplicable. A great misfortune never befalls a people unless it is stripped of every popular element. Nevertheless, those responsible for the recent crisis had donned the ideological “shirt” of the right and of “democracy.” Perhaps this was also why quite a few people voted for them. Nevertheless, the fact that they were voted for shows a positive step by society. Nobody should be surprised if, when the Communist Party is also put to a vote—the party considered responsible for the Albanian socialist crisis—the citizens’ memories drift, for that is what pluralism means. Nobody was surprised that the voting took place without incidents and without the intervention of the specialized forces used by the state to exercise violence. This time, for the first time since 1992, Albania showed under the best possible conditions that free and fair elections could also be held. And above all, it was clear that when the state is not in the hands of a clan, people are free, and their vote is not a vote cast under duress. It was a good test showing that political forces, including their high points, can develop within it.

A KLA fighter in the village of Junik, near the border with Albania Photo REUTERS A KLA fighter in the village of Junik, near the border with Albania. Photo REUTERS

Two live grenades are accidentally discovered in the building’s wall. Police defuse them After anonymous phone calls, a threat to life Two grenades have been found at the General Prosecutor’s Office. At midday on Sunday, a man walking past the prosecutor’s building spotted a newspaper-wrapped package by its perimeter wall. After opening it, he saw two grenades and immediately alerted the police officers on duty at the prosecutor’s office. The police bomb squad in Tirana then cordoned off the entire building and defused the grenades. P. 7

Everything about the local elections—here’s what happened on Sunday P. 3

Attack in the capital; PS leaders were expected P. 6

They flee the front and take refuge in Albania P. 4

Why the general was promoted; Berisha is also under investigation P. 9