Arben Ndoka

Albania's opposition leader Lulzim Basha said on Friday that he wants an in-depth investigation into alleged vote-buying by the ruling Socialists, claiming that the party secured its comfortable victory in the 2017 elections through collaboration with criminals.

Albanian police arrested former Socialist Party MPs Arben Ndoka and Arben Cuko plus several other people in a series of operations against organised crime suspects on Sunday, with Prime Minister Edi Rama stating that no one is above the law.

At his trial on Monday in the Albanian Supreme Court, Socialist MP Arben Ndoka apologized for having attacked a fellow MP, maintaining that such actions have occurred in other parliaments.

"I want to apologize to the public although such incidents have happened in parliaments all over Europe and in the Albanian parliament in the past," Ndoka told reporters outside the court.