The final OSCE/ODIHR report in Albania

“The Statement of Preliminary Findings and Conclusions issued by the ODIHR EOM on 1 July concluded that “The 30 June local elections were held with little regard for the interests of the electorate. The opposition decided not to participate, and the government determined to hold the elections without it”, the report says.

In the climate of a political standoff and polarisation, voters did not have a meaningful choice between political options. In 31 of the 61 municipalities mayoral candidates ran  unopposed. There were credible allegations of citizens being pressured by both sides.

Political confrontation led to legal uncertainty, and many decisions of the election administration were taken with the political objective of ensuring the conduct of elections. Voting was conducted in a generally peaceful and orderly manner and counting was assessed positively overall, although several procedures were not always followed correctly”.

The OSCE has 20 recommendations:

1. With a view to strengthen pluralistic democracy, reaffirm the right of citizens to take part in government and demonstrate shared responsibility toward the integrity of the electoral process, political parties and other electoral stakeholders should engage in an open and inclusive dialogue and facilitate electoral reform addressing the recommendations contained in this and prior ODIHR reports.
2. The authorities and political parties should undertake utmost measures to eliminate the longstanding problem of misuse of administrative resources in and between elections. Authorities should issue precise rules that define how public resources may and may not be used for electoral purposes. Further steps should be taken to achieve the de-politicisation of the civil service and ensure that pressure is not applied on voters to attend campaign events or vote in a particular way.
3. Authorities should guarantee the voters’ right to a free and secret choice. The voting procedures should be reviewed to ensure the secrecy of the vote and protection against undue influence on voters. The importance of ballot secrecy should be emphasized during the training of election commissions and in voter education materials.
4. In line with previous ODIHR recommendations, in order to enhance public confidence in the electoral process, consideration should be given to alternative formulas for nominating members of election administration, supported by procedural safeguards for their independence.
5. All courts that have a competency in elections should be fully operational during the electoral periods. The independence and the impartiality of the Central Election Commission and the judiciary should be ensured.
6. Law enforcement bodies should investigate all allegations of electoral violations thoroughly, swiftly and in a transparent manner. The government should establish a procedure by which current and prospective public administration employees may report any political pressures brought upon them in connection with obtaining or retaining a position or with work performance. Such persons should enjoy the protections currently guaranteed by law to whistle-blowers
   OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS Election Administration
7. Effective measures should be taken to further strengthen the recruitment and training methods of commissioners in order to ensure their professionalism. To enhance the professional capacity of election commissions, the Central Election Commission could offer periodic training and certification of potential commissioners, with the aim of creating a roster of qualified people.
8. To increase the transparency of the work, the Central Election Commission should systematically and in a timely manner publish all decisions on its website.
9. Authorities should take a proactive role ensuring accessibility of voting centres for persons with disabilities. Premises that lack accessibility should be identified well in advance and alternative solutions offered where necessary.

Voter Registration

10. Restrictions on the suffrage rights of persons with mental disabilities and non-citizens in local elections should be reconsidered.

Candidate Registration

11. The rules on candidate registration and withdrawals should be formulated precisely and their implementation by the Central Election Commission should be guided by the principle of legal certainty. Electoral Campaign
12. To prevent inflammatory and insulting language during campaign, political parties and electoral contestants could develop and adhere to a common code of conduct. Political parties should strengthen enforcement of their internal ethical codes, foster internal party democracy and ensure that their internal functions respect and promote transparency, equality and nondiscrimination.
13. Awareness should be raised about the importance of equal participation of women and men in public and political life, in both urban and rural areas, and with a particular emphasis on the role of women within political parties and electoral processes.
14. Consideration should be given to reviewing the law to ensure that the CEC has the appropriate powers and procedures to effectively oversee and enforce party and campaign finance rules.

Media

15. The independence of the media regulator and public broadcaster should be further strengthened through measures that prevent conflict of interest. Senior management positions at the public broadcaster should not be accessible to people with clear political affiliation.
16. The audiovisual media law should be amended to effectively limit concentration of media ownership in the broadcast sector.
17. The Electoral Code should be amended to guarantee equal access to the media for all contesting parties in all types of editorial programming and to allow all contestants to purchase advertising space under equal conditions. Additional considerations could be given to allocating a certain amount of free time equally to all contestants.
18. The responsibilities of the MMB should be clearly defined. The MMB should adopt a monitoring methodology in a timely manner, publish without delay its media monitoring reports, as well as decisions and other types of letters and requests to the media. The MMB should be allotted adequate resources for more detailed media monitoring, including of regional broadcasters.
19. Legislation should be amended to ensure that the media are able to independently cover activities of electoral contestants with a view to limit the use of party produced content in news programming and avoid misleading voters. Whenever content produced by political parties is used by the media, it should be clearly labelled. Complaints and Appeals
20. In order to ensure transparency of electoral dispute resolution outcomes, all decisions of the Electoral College could be published promptly and be accessible to all.

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