Tirana, Albania, June 28, SPA --Conservative Albanian Prime MinisterSali Berisha appeared set to win another term in office, exit pollsindicated shortly after voting ended in Albanian parliamentaryelections today, dpa reported. Projections by the Gani Bobi Institute gave the coalition led byBerisha's Democratic Party an absolute majority of 50.3 per cent,with a 1.5 per cent margin of error. Exit polls by other groups alsogave the party the lead, but not yet an absolute majority. The institute projected 42.3 per cent of the votes for the mainopposition group, the Socialists, led by Tirana Mayor Edi Rama. Itsexit polls questioned some 25,000 of the 3 million registered voters. Such an outcome translates to 76 of the 140 legislative seats forBerisha's Democrats, against 60 for the Socialist Party. The IPR Marketing agency and US-based Zogby International alsogave Berisha and his party a safe lead, though without predicting anabsolute majority. Zogby's results indicated 69 seats for the Democrats - meaningthey were just two short of a majority with 12 seats stillundetermined. Election day passed without the big problems that many had fearedafter violence, including two fatal incidents, marred the campaign. Albania joined NATO in April, but needed to organize elections ata higher standard than in the past to unblock its bid for membershipof the European Union. "I can't say that these elections were perfect, because noelection process is perfect, but these elections were far better thanany other before," Berisha said after voting ended. "Through these elections, the Albanians sign their Europeanfuture," he had said earlier, after casting his vote.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/679250