CET ON-LINE* 24- May -96

Friday, May 24,1996 Volume 1, Issue 354

Albania's two bitter political rivals, battling to win power in a general

election on Sunday, launched a final series of rallies on Thursday in a campaign

punctuated by violence and accusations of dirty tricks. Conservative President

Sali Berisha headed south to whip up support for his ruling Democratic Party

while the left prepared to stage its last mass meeting in the capital, Tirana

where, yesterday, authorities refused to allow the Socialists, reformed heirs of

late dictator Enver Hoxha's communists, to hold a rally in the city's Skanderbeg

Square. The Socialist's chose another site but were angered to learn that the

Democrats were given the go-ahead to mount their last rally in the same main

square later today. Socialist Party officials have accused the Democrat

government of using every arm of state to disrupt their election campaign and of

inciting its supporters to rough up leftist candidates and party backers. The

Democrats have hit back, charging that the left had orchestrated violent

incidents to discredit the government. Democrat supporters blocked a convoy of

cars carrying Socialist chiefs to a rally in the Adriatic port of Durres on

Wednesday, jumping on vehicles and striking car windows.