OSCE/ODIHR: Miscast ballots, invalid

This surprise report analyzes developments of recent 10 days, after the closing of the vote counting process all over Albania, focusing on the process undertaken by Central Election Commission.

ODIHR blames CEC for not taking beforehand decisions or instructions for miscast ballots in wrong ballot boxes. Report says that CEC also did not publish a manual for this section of the counting process, although this error has happened in previous elections.
Counting team members were trained for considering such votes as invalid. Votes mistakenly cast were considered invalid by the end of the vote counting process for Tirana Mayor on May 14th.

ODIHR reports that on May 17th, CEC Chairman Arben Ristani proposed a draft-decision which states that miscast ballots will be considered valid. This proposal was represented at Ristani’s table by the Democratic Party and seven members of Zonal Election Commission, for counting 60 boxes.

The report also says that “the legal basis for opening these boxes remains unclear for OSCE-ODIHR”.

Disputes, delays, vote counters leaving without reason, interruptions of counting process by political orders that have affected the counting process are key words in this report.

“By the end of the vote counting process for the Tirana Mayor on May 14th, CEC gave a preliminary summary for OSCE-ODIHR, a non-official one, declaring Edi Rama winner of Tirana Municipality with 10 votes,” the report says.

The report continues describing the events in a chronological order, saying that Rama announced victory, Basha declared to wait CEC final result, and Prime Minister Berisha asked CEC to consider miscast ballots as valid. Meanwhile, Socialists asked from CEC the total summary of all Zonal Election Commissions.

“But even in these moments, this summary has not been published by CEC. While on May 18th CEC started opening the ballot boxes, tension rose after the Socialist Party rejected this decision”, the report underlines.

“CEC replaced all members of Zonal Election Commission 54 and some members of Zonal Election Commission 49 on 12 May. During the vote counting process, the ballots were not visible for a long time, and observers were not allowed to check the contested votes by ballot counting groups and Zonal Election Commissions.” the report notes.

CEC is criticized for delaying the result, although they had built an electronic system for data collection, underlining that such data have not been updated even on the website.
The report values the role of media which constantly informed the public on the ballot counting process, especially for Tirana.

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