Countryman: Awaiting Electoral College

Thomas Countryman underlined that US will not give its opinion on May 8th local elections without hearing the final decision of the Electoral College.

“We expressed our doubts on the legal base that the Central Election Commission followed for counting a category of ballots.  This issue will be reviewed by the Electoral College, which is the highest constitutional institution in Albania for such cases. It is essential that all parties must behave with the same dignity that the Albanian people showed on the Election Day, by being calm, respecting the law and not inciting violence. All these issues must be addressed by the Electoral College. We hope to hear soon what they think, but we will not comment on the result without their final verdict”, Countryman declared.

As for the possibility of presenting this case to the Commission of Venice, Countryman said that there is nothing bad in addressing this issue to this commission, as many other European countries have done.

“This is a decision that must be taken by the Albanian institutions. Many other European democracies have used the Commission of Venice as an independent way of reaching a better opinion on what are the European election standards. But this is a decision that must be taken by the Albanian institutions, and not the United States”, Countryman suggested.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Euroasia, Thomas Countryman, underlined that the most important step after May 8th elections in Albania is a respectful communication between parties.

“I would hope to see after these elections a respectful communication between parties, and better participation of all political groups in governing institutions. This would be a very big step ahead. I believe that when people participate in such a great scale in elections, this is what they want. This is what we hope to see as an outcome of the current situation and in the two years to come, until the next central elections”, Countryman declared.

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