Fredi Beleri, the candidate representing the Greek minority in Albania, won the municipality elections in Himara and emerged victorious over his opponent Jorgo Goro, who had the backing of the Edi Rama government.
The official results were announced Monday after an earlier interruption in the vote counting process.
Since Saturday though, Beleri is in custody after he was detained by Albanian police two days before the elections on charges of vote-buying.
His arrest has strained the relationship between Tirana and Athens, with the latter perceiving it as a strategic move by the Rama government to gain an advantage in the internal pre-election dynamics.
Αthens has threatened Tirana that “it will pay a high price” for the arrest.