Countryman: Doubts on CEC decisions (Update)

He added that the process went fairly well in all districts, except Tirana, mentioning the decision of Central Election Commission for counting miscast ballots.

“We expressed our doubts on the legal base of the Central Election Commission decision for counting a specific category of ballots. The issues that came out from this decision were sent to the Electoral College, but now 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. We have no comment on the result, until we will hear the ruling of the Electoral Code”, 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 countries have done. But this decision belongs only to the Albanian parties.

Commenting about the political developments in Albania after Central Elections 2009, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State criticized the Albanian political class.

“We have not seen enough political leaders with the will to put Albania’s national interests before the interests of their parties. Usually, the political leaders are convinced that the victory of their party is the same thing as the national interest. But this is not the case for everyone. Albania’s interest today is to show – especially to the EU countries – that Albania can function same as all other democracies that aspire to enter the European Union”, Countryman underlined.

“In the last two years, Albania did not fulfill these criteria. What we fear today is that what should have been a positive demonstration for Europe, Brussels and all other member countries: the Albanian political maturity; today might turn into a negative signal, if political parties will not make real efforts for treating this matter with calm and in full accordance with the constitution”, he declared.

Thomas Countryman praised Albania’s development as an economy and its efforts for making reforms, but it is the political class which damages Albania’s image. For changing this image, Countryman suggests: “not with public relation campaigns, but with reasonable solutions and a respectful communication”.

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