The long drawn-out ballot counting process after Albania's weekend parliamentary election went into its fourth day on Wednesday, with results remaining unknown.

With 98 percent of the votes counted, the Democratic Party led by Prime Minister Sali Berisha had gained 48.01 percent, against 44. 25 percent for the Socialists led by Tirana Mayor Edi Rama.

And the leftist LSI, a breakaway from the Socialists, was third with 5.5 percent, preliminary results from Albania's Central Election Commission showed.

There are still about 100 ballot boxes waiting to be counted and the process has been blocked as the two main camps accuse each other of tampering with the ballots to swing the results in the extremely closely contested election.

It is still not clear whether the alliance led by Berisha could secure 71 seats in the parliament, the number that is needed to govern.

Unofficial calculations show the Democrats have won 70 of parliament's 140 seats, while the Socialists have gained 66, and the LSI, which is said to be willing to team up with the Socialists, has four seats.

Analysts have said that if the outcome is tied at 70-70 seats between the two main blocs they may try to woo deputies from each other's camps in order to form a government.

If that does not work, then another general election will be called later this year in accordance with the country's constitution.

Source: Xinhua