Freedom house has published their annual report “countries in
transition”, about the democratic processes of 29 developing countries
in Central Europe and Euroasia.
As for Albania, the organization notes a slight progress compared to one year ago. The evaluation in the “electoral process” and “democratic governing on a central level” has improved with 0.25 points, from 1 to 7.
Five other areas that Freedom House evaluates in their report of 2014 have not changed, compared to one year ago. “Civil Society”, “Independent Media”, “Democratic Governing in a Local Level”, “Legal structure and the independence of the judiciary” and “corruption”.
Freedom House thinks that Albania reached a positive change for the first time since 2008, thanks to the parliamentary elections and the peaceful power transfer.
The evaluation for democracy, which is the average of seven categories, has improved from 4.25 to 4.17, in a scale from 1 to 7.
During an interview for the Voice of America, the Director of the Project, Sylvana Kolaczkoeska, declared that “there are signs that the new government has interest to undertake reforms and stop the power consolidation process noted during the second mandate fo the previous government of Mr.Berisha. It is still too soon, but we have seen not only rhetoric, but also tangible actions. However, it is still soon to celebrate. What I can say is that there seems to be more political will in this government than the previous one to resolve some of the chronical weaknesses of this country, especially in the judiciary”.
According to Kolaczkoëskas, one of the biggest problems with justice in Albania is the lack of accountability form the highest officials. “The level of accountability has been low in Albania. This problem has not been treated properly and there has been no improvement. The executive power keeps influencing the judiciary. I think that this should change, so that people can trust institutions more”, she added.
As regards the local government in Albania, the report concludes that the local governments remain weak, fragmented and subject to political manipulation from the central government, while corruption remains a widespread phenomenon that affects the citizens’ lives.
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