Albania: Year In Review 1996Article Free Pass A republic in the
western Balkan Peninsula of southeastern Europe, Albania is
situated on the Adriatic Sea. Area: 28,748 sq km (11,100 sq mi).
Pop. (1996 est.): 3,249,000. Cap.: Tiranë. Monetary unit: lek,
with (Oct. 11, 1996) a free rate of 108.10 leks to U.S. $1
(170.29 leks = £ 1 sterling). President in 1996, Sali Berisha;
prime minister, Aleksander Meksi. The third postcommunist
parliamentary elections, held on May 26, 1996, plunged Albania
into its deepest political crisis since the demise of communist
rule in 1991. The opposition, led by the Socialist Party (the
former Communist Party), charged that Pres. Sali Berisha’s
Democratic Party of Albania (DPA) used intimidation and fraud to
capture a large election majority. Riot police violently broke
up a protest rally, and the opposition parties boycotted all
further activities related to the national elections, giving the
DPA de facto control over the People’s Assembly, the executive,
and the judiciary. On July