Miscast Ballots count

Top-Channel: Let us stop a little bit at the ballot count process in Tirana, which produced a preliminary winner at the end, with 10 votes ahead. But CEC decided without the five votes of this commission to start a recount. Did this decision surprise you?

Stonestreet: As soon as we learned the preliminary result, I knew that this would happen, because I have seen races with such close results even in my country and also in other states. Whatever happens next attracts controversy, and all eyes are over CEC, including pressures.

This is consequence of having such a close race. What we said in yesterday’s report, is that we are considering what CEC is doing now. We said that the legal basis remains unclear for our mission, because the final decision that clarifies this decision, a decision taken on principle bases, had not been published at CEC official web page. Some of the questions, like the validity of the miscast ballots in wrong boxes, are issues that have been raised even in past elections. This was an issue that had been known, but has never been treated by CEC and Zonal Election Commission members, including the political parties who enjoy the right of posing these questions to CEC.

No one of the parties did ever raise such an issue, for questioning how these ballots would be treated. The politic parties must reflect about this, because it is under their responsibility. Same as they have the right to criticize each other and the institutions. But their reflection on this is more important.

Top-Channel: In yesterday’s report you wrote that the decision for opening the ballot boxes at CEC was legally unclear for OSCE-ODIHR. Have you demanded information or clarification from CEC for this?

 Stonestreet: I met the Chairman and vice Chair of the Central Election Commission. When we wrote that legal base is unclear, we did that because we wanted to receive and see a reasonable legal basis. The first thing in my mind was that we would be having a document that would clarify us that this is the legal base, and based on that people would discuss if that legal base would be justifiable or not. But I don’t have this document. I know that there has been a draft-decision, but this is not same thing with having a decision for this matter. It is not up to us saying if there has been a legal base or not for this procedure. There are institutions like the Central Election Commission, the Electoral College, political parties and candidates. The Albanian institutions are the ones that must say their word on what happened during the ballot counting process and after.

Top Channel