Problems with Tirana’s voters’ list

The report analyzes the pre election situation until April, and contains recommendations for different institutions.

Regarding the April 1st agreement between parties, the report notes that this agreement contains some unnecessary clauses, which put the role of the parties and their will above the implementation of the law. An example is the clause on the commitment to implement and respect the law or the Election Code provisions, when law implementation is a basic obligation for all actors, individuals or electoral subjects, either in the government or opposition.

Regarding the voters’ list controversy, the report concludes that during this period they have noticed residential transfers from one local voting unit to another, on evident politic purposes. The local observers, not having access to the list updates, cannot say with certainty if these alterations will be reflected on the voters’ list or not.

Despite the legal bond that provides clause no. 57 of the Election Code, clearly stating that the voters’ lists should be available to any electoral subject that asks for them, the heads of several local units have refused to make them accessible, without giving any explanation.

The report recommends the Local Unit heads to avoid illegal interferences on the voters lists. On the other hand, the report recommends Election Central Commission members that have been proposed by the opposition to participate as soon as possible at the ECC meetings.

The Commission should approve as soon as possible the protocol for its organization and functionality, and also a lot of attention should be paid to the training of second or third level commissioners.

The local observers report asks the commissioners to cooperate with each other in the name of law and not of political parties.

The report also has a recommendation for the government, for replacing the resigned ministers as soon as possible, especially the Interior Minister, whose institution has direct responsibility on the election process performance. Especially for the fact, the report says, that the former minister Basha runs for Mayor of Tirana.

Other recommendations are addressed to the political parties and their commitment for a calm electoral campaign, for rebuilding the trust between parties and avoiding the usage of local or central public administrations for electoral purposes.

The Local Observers Coalition published recommendations for the media, in order to have a more realistic and objective representation of this campaign; and also for the State Police, in order to secure a calm performance of the electoral campaign and all other phases of the electoral process.

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