I think most of the headlines calling this a “key test” are pretty correct in that description. Albania is another transition democracy in the volatile Balkans, and transition means baby steps. This means that it will be years before investment bears fruit and real liberalism takes solid root.

TIRANA (AFX) – Albanians began voting on Sunday in legislative elections seen as crucial to their country’s ambition to join the EU.

A free and fair vote is crucial for Albania as it hopes to sign a stabilization and association accord with the EU this year and join the European bloc in 2014.

Some 2.8 mln voters were called on to elect 140 deputies, choosing from 1,253 candidates belonging to 27 parties and coalitions. The new parliament will name the prime minister, the head of the winning party.

The International Herald Tribune perhaps paints the best picture of just how slow the solid progress takes in a country trapped because the collapse of communism and integrating with the west.

An estimated 500 international and 4,000 local observers were monitoring the balloting, in which voters selected 140 members of Parliament. Yet despite the scrutiny, the last days of the campaign brought difficulties.

Among the problems cited by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the international body monitoring the polls and the campaign, are accusations of vote buying, of misuse of state resources and of voters being pressured to support particular candidates.

The main rivals in the race – Prime Minister Fatos Nano’s Socialist Party and the Democratic Party, led by Sali Berisha – were running neck and neck, according to an opinion survey taken June 26. The poll was conducted Gallup International on behalf of Mjaft, an Albanian nongovernmental group.

Nano’s government has presided over a sustained period of economic growth – about 5 percent annually for three years – and standards of living have risen.

But his critics say that development has been uneven, favoring the rich and certain parts of the country like the capital, Tirana. The opposition, news media and nongovernmental organizations have also accused his administration of widespread corruption.

For Berisha, the election is seen as his last chance to return to power. Albania was plunged into chaos in 1997 under his government after a pyramid banking scandal cost Albanians more than $1 billion in lost savings.

Hundreds lost their lives as soldiers deserted their posts and people looted armories. An Italian-led force was sent to restore order.

Whatever the outcome of the vote Sunday, many politicians and analysts agreed that Nano’s and Berisha’s domination of Albanian politics was not likely to survive.

With the results expected to be close, both sides will need coalition partners.

“Berisha will not be able to rule alone, even if he wanted to,” said Neritan Sejamini, the Democratic Party candidate for the Tirana region.

A third party, the Socialist Integration Movement, formed by a breakaway group of Socialists in Parliament, was expected to hold the balance of power.

Most voters have their minds focused on more basic needs, like water, electricity and paved roads. “Nothing we have is secure,” said Mereme Lila, 50, a homemaker in Sauk, one of dozens of new suburbs on the edge of Tirana.

Power supplies were restored to the district in the week before the election.

“When the voting is over, they will cut it off again, you’ll see,” said Lila’s neighbor, who declined to give her name.

Radio Free Europe also discusses the importance of EU integration for these countries, and how the promise of it has encouraged reform. In that sense, the west also has a responsibility to these countries to fulfill their promises.