Exit polls showed that Prime Minister Sali Berisha's Democratic Party led in Sunday's Albanian parliamentary elections, indicating another chance to form a government.

An exit poll conducted by the Italian firm IPR Marketing showed the ruling Democrats gained 46 percent to 49 percent of the votes, with the opposition Socialists getting 41 percent to 45 percent.

Another poll conducted by a Kosovo pollster gave Berisha almost9 percent lead over his Socialist rival Edi Rama, with 47.5 percent to 38.8 percent of the votes.

Opposition Socialists disputed the polls' results. Rama told a press conference that "nothing is accurate in Albania." Official results are expected to come out Monday.

Some 3.1 million voters in the country of a 3.6 million population were eligible to elect 140 deputies for the country's parliament.

The European Union and the United States regarded the elections as a key test of the country's political maturity as it eyes EU membership. Albania joined NATO last April.

Some 3,000 monitors, including more than 450 foreigners from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe election-monitoring mission, observed the voting process.

Source:Xinhua