Parties keep their hold on election organization

27/03/2012 00:00

The electoral administration reform, one of the most important parts of
the electoral process, was discussed behind closed doors in a meeting
organized by the OSCE with the Electoral Reform Commission and the civil
society, but with a constant presence of the journalists.

It was made clear since the beginning that the majority and the opposition have no final idea how to implement the third OSCE-ODIHR recommendation for changing the Central Electoral Commission structure, in order to make the elections more reliable and independent.

The models presented by foreign experts were different and from many countries, starting with the full independency, the mixed model and elections fully organized by the government. The latter was proposed by the former CEC Chairman, Ilirjan Celibashi, but the chairmen of the Electoral Reform Commission hinted that it was not an acceptable version, at least not for the elections of 2013.

Both Socialist and Democratic chairmen, Gjiknuri and Rusmali, showed that the two main political forces have not changed the option for having full control on the electoral process.

This option doesn’t allow a radical change of the electoral administration, what was warned by Mr. Rusmali when he opened the meeting with the phrase: “If yesterday we discussed about the futurist Albania, with electronic ballot counting, today we will discuss for the realist Albania”.

In fact, the electoral reality in Albania has showed that the political parties are able to block, delay or damage the process in every level of the election administration, starting from the Voting Center Commissions to the Central Election Commission. For the Socialists, this institution is the weakest point of the process and a failed model that needs reforms. But no one has decided on how. Rusmali says that every model can be considered failed as long that the politics doesn’t change its behavior towards the law and institutions that have been established with consensus.

Since the election administration system cannot be changed to its core, it will have maximal control from the parties. A key recommendation that should be implemented for the next elections is the number one OSCE-ODIHR recommendation. For Albania’s behalf, the politicians must show political will for holding democratic elections, a will that should be compared with the privileges they receive from the law. Since the good will cannot be transformed into a law, the 2013 elections will be test that will show how much the political parties are ready to work on Albania’s behalf, by implementing the Electoral Code.

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