Tirana - Albania's ruling Democratic Party is leading in the polls by 40 percent compared to the Socialist Party's 38 percent, a survey published on Friday showed.

The survey, published 9 days ahead of parliamentary polls, showed that if the elections were to be held today, Prime Minister Sali Berisha's party would have a slight majority.

Albania will hold parliamentary elections on June 28. The election campaign has already been marred by violence. Last week a political activist was arrested charged with killing a sympathizer of a rival party. On Thursday, a local leader of the Albanian Democratic- Christian party was killed in a bomb attack.

The survey also showed that the leader of the Socialists, Edi Rama is slightly leading in popularity polls, with 46 percent of the respondents giving him a thumbs up, against Berisa's 45 percent approval.

The survey was conducted between May 23 and June 10, with 1,000 people surveyed. (dpa)