Albania's prime minister has thanked hundreds of thousands of voters who supported his Socialist Party in the last parliamentary elections, backing his pledge to take the country into the European Union in five years.

Albanians voted in parliamentary elections on Sunday with prime minister Edi Rama seeking an unprecedented fourth term after a campaign dominated by promises to join the European Union and accusations of widespread corruption.

The EU saw the vote as a test of the democratic maturity of the Balkan nation, by far the most Europe-oriented in the region.