ODIHR: Mistrust and political war

They emphasized the delaying of the vote counting process. Different
from predictions, the OSCE ODIHR observers will continue to stay in
Albania for two other weeks, following the whole vote counting process.

During a press conference, the head of the observing mission underlined that the process has been transparent, but there have been several problems.

“The elections were competitive and transparent, but with a high polarization and lacking of trust. Same as in the previous elections, the parties did not fulfill their duties, negatively affecting the process administration. They continued their political war with their declarations, which puts in doubt the election integrity and also the whole process”, declared Jonathan Stonestreet.

The positive aspects of these elections, according to Stonestreet, were the work of the Electoral College for the complaints and the atmosphere created by the media.

On the other hand, Mr. Stonestreet evaluated that the politicization of the process has affected the transparency of the Central Election Commission (CEC).

“CEC functioned with transparency. Despite the clear divisions, CEC made its job. The polarization affected its performance, with harsh discussions of a political nature. The decisions were taken following political lines, some of which were rejected by the Electoral College”, Stonestreet declared.

The head of the observing mission listed a series of elements that, according to him, damaged the electoral process.

The Election Code – “The code lays the complete technical foundations for a democratic election process, if properly applied, but there have been legal gaps”.

The Commissioners – “The delays for the commissioners assignment caused the deadlines to not be respected. By not assigning the commissioners, the opposition obliged CEC to replace them. The Democratic and the Socialist parties did not assign the voting center commissioners and the vote counting teams in time, causing difficulties during the voting process.

Campaign – “Despite the many appeals for calm, the campaign was characterized by violence acts in many cities.”

Abuses – “A positive development is the fact that the administrative abuses have had a significant decrease, but there have been officials by both parties who have abused with their duty, pressuring the administration employees to support their respective parties”.

Media – “As for the media, we have noticed a wide coverage of the election process. Media has offered several points of views, making possible a complete and proper information for the citizens, but most of the private channels take political sides”.

As for the Zonal Election Commissions observation, the head of the observers evaluated that it is working properly, excluding some cases, while he emphasized that the vote counting process is very slow and unorganized.

Mr. Stonestreet added that after this preliminary evaluation, the official and final report will be compiled in the days to come and will be published after six weeks.

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