Municipalities run by candidates of the same political party. The

Open Data Albania (ODA) has researched the election of mayors in the last four elections. The data were obtained from the electronic newsletters or manuals of the Central Election Commission. This research article contains statistical as well as specific information on the mayoral winners in the local elections of 2000, 2003, 2007 and 2011. In the Republic of Albania there are 65 municipalities on the basis of the territorial administrative division under the relevant law.

In total, municipalities that might be considered as affected by the “Bastion” phenomenon or a consecutive affirmation four straight times of a single political direction constitute 21.5 per cent (14 out of 65) of municipalities nationwide. More concretely, eleven are run by left-wing electoral entities and three are run by mayors of the right-wing electoral subjects.

^{Source: ODA
Comments And Analysis: Central Election Commission}

The “Bastion” phenomenon is shown in the following graph:

^{Source: ODA
Comments And Analysis: Central Election Commission}

According to the research analysis of Open Data Albania, electoral candidates of the left wing subjects have won four times consecutively in eleven municipalities or 17 per cent of the mayoral seats nationwide. More specifically, they are as follows: Berat, Kuçova, Durrës, Fier, Patos, Gjirokastër, Libohova, Erseka, Maliq, Pogradec and Vlora.

According to the research of ODA, electoral candidates of the right wing subjects have won four times consecutively in 3 municipalities or 4.5 per cent of mayoral seats nationwide. These three municipalities are: Bulqiza, Bajram Curri and Shkodra.

Independent candidates, or candidates of the Human Rights Union Party (HRUP) when that party ran alone without a coalition with other political formations, are not classified as belonging to a political direction.

Interestingly, the phenomenon of refraction of the political “Bastions” can be observed in the 2011 local elections. Those elections were marked by ten rotations of the political direction after three consecutive mandates, respectively seven rotations from left to the right and three rotations from right to left.

^{Source: ODA
Comments And Analysis: Central Election Commission}

Municipalities with a rotation of the political direction from left to right after three consecutive mandates are as follows: the Municipality of Tirana; the Municipality of Rrogozhina; the Municipality of Lezha; the Municipality of Belsh; the Municipality of Çorovoda; the Municipality of Prrenjas and the Municipality of Roskovec.

Municipalities with a rotation of the political wing from right to left after three consecutive mandates are as follows: the Municipality of Laç; the Municipality of Rubik and the Municipality of Kavaja.
Only two municipalities, or three per cent of the total number of municipalities, show the phenomenon of rotation of the political direction three times within four consecutive mandates from 2000 to 2011. More concretely, only the Municipality of Librazhd and the Municipality of Fushë-Arrëz are examples of zones unaffected by the phenomenon of the political “Bastion”.

^{Source: ODA
Comments And Analysis: Central Election Commission}

The local elections of 2000 and 2011 were characterized by two special elements. In 2000 the Democratic Party and its allies withdrew from participating in the second run-off, considering the counting process of the first run-off as irregular. In the 2011 local government elections, political parties were organized in mixed coalitions in terms of political direction. Thus, the Socialist Movement for Integration, the Democratic Alliance and the Environmental Agrarian Party ran under the coalition Alliance for the Citizen (a right wing coalition), while in the other local government elections they had previously run as left-wing parties. The same phenomenon was observed in the other coalition, the Alliance for the Future (a left wing coalition) with which the Christian Democrat Party was aligned; in previous elections for local government it had been part of the right-wing coalition.  
 
The electronic list below reflects all mayors elected in the last four elections, providing accurate information about the political direction of the electoral subject that appointed them.

^{Source: ODA
Comments And Analysis: Central Election Commission}

Additonal information is shown in the table below:

^{Source: ODA
Comments And Analysis: Central Election Commission}