# First Multiparty Elections (31 March 1991)

URL: https://allhistories.com/albania/timeline/1991-first-multiparty-elections
Location: Tirana
Themes: Key Events

After opposition parties were legalised in December 1990, elections were scheduled for February 1991 but were postponed to 31 March at the demand of the Democratic Party, which needed time to organise. In the meantime the government released many political prisoners and allowed the opposition to publish newspapers. Voters elected 250 deputies to the People's Assembly, with further rounds on 7 and 14 April. Turnout was about 99 per cent. The Party of Labour received 56 per cent of the vote in the first round and won 169 seats, mostly in rural areas, while the Democratic Party took about 75 seats and swept the cities, including Tirana, where Ramiz Alia himself lost his seat. Smaller parties and the Greek minority organisation Omonia also took part. Observers from the CSCE and the international press followed the vote. Protests over the results led to violence in Shkodër on 2 April, in which four people were killed. In April the assembly adopted provisional constitutional laws and elected Alia President, but a general strike in May brought down the communist government, and new elections in March 1992 brought the Democratic Party to power.

## Why it matters
The 1991 elections ended 46 years of single-list voting and opened Albania's democratic transition.

Ruler at the Time: [Ramiz Alia](https://allhistories.com/albania/rulers/ramiz-alia)

Chairman of the Council of Ministers / Prime Minister of Albania: Fatos Nano (Socialist Party of Albania)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — 1991 Albanian parliamentary election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Albanian_parliamentary_election)
- [OSCE/ODIHR](https://www.osce.org/odihr)
- [Parliament of Albania](https://www.parlament.al/)
- [Wikipedia — Democratic Albania (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albania)