Remarks for elections so far, Glover criticizes CEC too

She gave critic remarks about the decisions of the Central Election Commission and mentioned the old problem of Albanian elections, the debates of vote selling. She said they have received several claims about this, but no concrete evidence.

Glover also answered to the critics of Prime Minister Berisha, who said that her arrival has brought mistrust.

Journalists Muhamed Veliu held this interview with Mrs.Glover:
 
Top Channel: Odihr published this Friday an interim report for the June 21st elections. What do you think is the most concerning aspect identified in this report?
 
Ambasadorja Glover: When we prepare our reports, may they be interim or final, I don’t see only for negative aspects, but also for positive ones. If you have read the report, it includes positive aspects too. We are concerned about the Central Election Commission, since some of their decisions are unilateral and following the line of their party.

There are also some issues with the decisions. As for the Zonal Election Commissions, I think they are functioning well. But we have noted they are are lacking of the necessary equipments and the resources to buy them.

There are some changes in the membership procedures of the Zonal Commissions, making it more difficult for them. The campaign is calm. We have noticed that the political parties in Tirana are treating these elections as central and are using the practices known from the past, exchanging personal accusations.

But we are happy that a good campaign is held in rural areas, where candidates and voters meet and discuss in small forums. There have been debates, and the general impression is that the candidates Are getting closer to the voters, which is very important for us, because these are their elections, not ours. There is a positive movement in the efforts to engage the Roma community in this process, since it is about the local elections. This is very important.

But we have also serious concerns about claims that we hear regarding the buying of votes, passing identity cards form one person to another, abuses of officials who use public buildings, etc.

We are also concerned about the fact that many people are concerned about the ballot counting process on the Election Day. This is a panorama of what we have seen, but, as I said, we there is an applicable law which could allow democratic elections.

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