The voting process for the leadership election of Albania’s Democratic Party (PD) has officially concluded across the country, with ballot counting now underway.

Polling stations closed at 19:00 local time after party officials decided to extend voting by one hour in several major branches where large numbers of members were still waiting to cast their ballots.

Democratic Party lawmaker Ivi Kaso announced that the extension applied mainly to larger branches, including major voting centers in Tirana and regional headquarters, where turnout remained high throughout the day.

The process initially began at 08:00 and was scheduled to end at 18:00. However, according to Kaso, the party’s Commission for the Organization and Control of Electoral Operations (KOKOE) approved requests from several large branches to keep voting centers open until 19:00 in order to allow all members the opportunity to vote.

Speaking to reporters, Kaso said the decision was taken after local branches informed the commission about continued voter flows beyond the official closing time.

“We are here on behalf of the Commission for the Organization and Control of Electoral Operations. As previously decided, the official closing time for today’s election process was 18:00. However, following requests from several major branches — including Branch 2 here at party headquarters — KOKOE decided that voting in these larger branches would remain open until 19:00 to allow all Democrats to exercise their right to vote in the process of reconfirming the party chairman,” Kaso stated.

He added that voting had already concluded in several smaller branches that had completed the process earlier in the day, while larger branches in Tirana and key regional centers continued operating due to the higher number of voters.

The election is widely expected to reconfirm current Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha, who is running unopposed.