"Gazeta Shqiptare", "Shekulli", "Tema", "Korrieri", "Albania', "Koha Jone, "RD', "ZP", "Panorama", "Shqip", "Metropol", "Standard", "Tirana Observer", "Republika", "Telegraf", "Tirana Observer"


ELECTORAL ISSUES

Meta invites the Left to a roundtable; Rama refuses (Sat/ Sun)

The Chair of the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI), Ilir Meta, urged all the left-wing parties to meet in a roundtable to stop what he called “manipulations of the 28 June elections.” He sent invitations to the Chairs of the Socialist Party (SP), Edi Rama, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Skënder Gjinushi, the Social Democracy Party (SDY), Paskal Milo, and the Real Socialist Party ’91, Petro Koçi, to discuss these issues. He told a press conference on Saturday that similar invitations were sent to other important stakeholders of the Left, such as former Prime Minister Fatos Nano, former President Rexhep Meidani and former Assembly Speaker, Servet Pëllumbi. He scheduled the meeting for today at noon. However, Chair Rama said during an interview yesterday that he would not participate, saying that “The 28 June elections are not between the Right and the Left, but between the old and the new politics, between the old and new alternatives.
With regard to Ilir Meta’s invitation, I cannot but agree on the removal of Sali Berisha, and in order to do this, everyone should vote for the Socialist Party. Ilir Meta should urge Albanians and give his contribution that the people should vote for the SP, and he should even vote for the SP himself, because that would be the best contribution to remove Sali Berisha,” he said.  Earlier in the day, the SP refusal to participate in the roundtable was made known by an SP candidate in Tirana, Saimir Tahiri, who said that the only way to remove Sali Berisha from office was to vote for the SP. The SMI Secretary for Public Relations, Luan Rama, said that it was never too late for the Left to unite to remove the Prime Minister.
According to Panorama, Petro Koçi said that inter-socialist dialogue increases the confidence within the Left and confirmed his participation; whereas Gjinushi supported the idea of a union of the Left, but added that such invitation was delayed and that he could not be present in the meeting, because of his own campaign engagements.

Coalition for Clean Parliament issues list of “problematic” candidates (Mon)

The Coalition for a Clean Parliament, led by former President Alfred Moisiu, identified yesterday a list of twenty candidates from all coalitions, who do not “deserve” to become MPs. The assessment was based on several criteria set by the Coalition, such as education, political contribution, the parliamentary performance of those who run again, declaration of assets, involvement in corruption, conflict of interest, nepotism, physical or verbal violence, etc. “The verification of over 140 candidates revealed that 15% of the potential MPs in the parties’ lists are inappropriate to represent the Albanian citizens in parliament,” the Coalition said in its report. The list of those candidates is as follows:
DP-led coalition - Astrit Veliaj, Hajrrulla Paturri, Mehmet Spahiu and Vasilika Çaushi of the Republican Party, Paulin Sterkaj, Lefter Maliqi, Indrit Fortuzi and Spiro Ksera of the DP, Pashk Ujka of the Demo-Christian League.
SP-led coalition - Asllan Dogjani, Tom Doshi and Vangjel Tavo of the SP, Artur Duçkallari of the Social Democracy Party, and Pilo Keri of the G99.
SMI-led coalition - Viron Bezhani of the SMI, and Nazmir Bilani of the Real Socialist Party ’91.
Freedom Pole coalition - Frrok Gjini, Jak Ndokaj and Mark Kroqi of the Demo-Christian Party, and Gëzim Bocari of the Movement for National Development.

SP: Government must make public list of people who did not apply for ID cards (Sun)

The SP called on the Government to make public the lists of citizens who have applied for the ID cards and those who will not be able to vote on 28 June. The SP Secretary for Elections, Kastriot Islami, said on Saturday that in the framework of public transparency, the Government needs to distribute the updated lists. The Ministry of Interior Spokesperson reacted by saying that they will send the list of persons who have applied for the ID cards, the list of persons who have already withdrawn this document and the list of persons without passport who did not apply, to the CEC and political parties on Monday. 

CEC: Voting Centres are putting elections in danger (Sat/ Sun)

The Central Elections Committee (CEC) Chair, Arben Ristani, called on local government heads to not change the location of the voting centres as this was against the law and would create chaos on Election Day. He said that despite repeated calls and administrative measures undertaken by CEC, the problem had continued. According to him, many local government directors, against all instructions of the Electoral Code, have undertaken steps to change the location of the voting centres. The CEC spokesperson also said that that a number of mayors had tried to change the locations, and that what was more concerning was that some of them had tried to unify several VCs into one.

SP: No commissioners in Kamza (Sun/ Mon)

The SP warned on Saturday that they may not field commissioners in the voting centres established in privately-owned properties, as they were mainly owned by DP members. Out of 21 proposals sent by the Kamza Municipality for the creation of these centres in private properties, the CEC passed 18 of them and suspended three. The opposition CEC members, Dëshira Subashi and Pandeli Varfi, voted against these proposals. They said that the places proposed by the Mayor are those places in which the DP was campaigning. They insisted that the centres be established in public places.
However, the DP representative Njazi Kosovrasti said that the SP was trying to create chaos among voters in a bastion of the DP. According to him, a part of these centres were used for this purpose even during the times when the former Chair, Ilir Çelibashi, was in charge. On Sunday, the SP sent documentation to the media in support of their claims in at least 84 out of the 500 voting centres across the country.

Demo-Christians to sue Speaker of Parliament following candidate’s murder
(Sun)

The Demo-Christian Party (DCP) Chair, Nard Ndoka, said on Saturday in Shkodra that he was ready to send the criminal law suit against Speaker Jozefina Topalli and the State Police, with reference to the murder of the DCP local Chair Aleks Keka. According to him, he was murdered twice: once by politics who executed him with a blast of explosives and the other by the police who stained his image by describing him as a trafficker and a person with a criminal record. According to Ndoka, the file is being prepared by the DCP legal department. He said that Topalli will be accused of defamation against the DCP as she has described them as ‘traffickers’. The State Police will also be accused for defamation against Keka, because they described him as a trafficker and a person with a criminal record the day he was murdered.
Ndoka said that Keka was murdered for political reasons and that his political rivals had been threatening and trying to bribe him.

Bernd Borchardt: Prosecution should carefully investigate (Sat)

The German Ambassador, Bernd Borchardt, said on Friday that “The prosecution should carefully investigate the murder of the DCP chair for Malesi e Madhe.” He stressed that he would not add more than what the EU Presidency statement said, urging the Government and all political parties to work together to ensure that the elections are conducted in a peaceful manner.

Berisha said citizens SMSs were used in drafting DP electoral programme
(Mon)

Prime Minister Sali Berisha visited yesterday the office where citizens’
SMSs containing suggestions for the DP were being received. He said that the major part of the 52,000 SMSs received so far had been used in drafting the DP governing programme for the next four years. The SMSs confirmed that the public’s priorities were employment, free movement and improvement of infrastructure. He repeated his promise for 160,000 new jobs in the next four years, and free movement in Europe within the first part of a second mandate.

US Senate passes resolution calling for free and fair elections in Albania (Sat/ Sun)

The US Senate agreed on Friday a resolution “recognizing the democratic accomplishments of the people of Albania and expressing the hope that the parliamentary elections on June 28, 2009 maintain and improve the transparency and fairness of democracy in Albania.” The text of the resolution follows: “Whereas the people of Albania have made extraordinary progress from authoritarian government and a closed market to a democratic government and market economy in less than two decades; Whereas the Republic of Albania, with the advice and consent of this Senate and the governments of the other member countries, was officially admitted to full membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on April 2, 2009;  Whereas the Thessaloniki Declaration of 2003 confirmed that the countries of the Western Balkans are eligible for accession to the European Union once they have fulfilled the requirements for membership; and Whereas the Government of Albania has accepted numerous specific commitments governing the conduct of elections as a participating state in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Now, therefore, be it  Resolved, That the
Senate-- (1) urges the Government of Albania to fulfil the commitments it has made to the OSCE with respect to the conduct of its upcoming elections, and to ensure that those elections are free and fair;  (2) urges the Government of Albania to expedite the implementation of its voter identification card program to minimize the possibility of disenfranchisement and provide as many cards as possible to eligible voters prior to the election;  (3) commends the positive step taken by the Government of Albania to reduce the cost of the voter ID card significantly and avoid charges of a poll tax; and (4) expresses its hope that credible democratic elections in Albania will contribute to a strong and stable government responsive to the wishes of the people of Albania and strengthen Albania's standing within NATO and European institutions.

The initiators of the Resolution, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) and Ranking Member Dick Lugar (R-IN), along with Senators Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ted Kaufman (D-DE), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT), issued the following joint statement announcing the its passage: “America’s vested interest in Albania did not end with their acceptance to NATO. Now more than ever, we must be committed to seeing an Albanian election that is credible in the eyes of that nation’s people as well as its European partners. As allies, we are deeply invested in the country’s successes. In the final days before Albanians head to the polls in their country, we hope all parties involved work together to hold a fair and legitimate election process.” In related news, the US Embassy issued the following statement on Friday: “We urge the Government of Albania and all political actors to work together to maintain a peaceful environment where all Albanians who wish to do so can vote with a  calm and peaceful mind on June 28th.  We once again express our hope and expectation that the upcoming elections are in full accordance with international standards.”

Pack hopes elections will be calm (Sun)

The European MEP, Doris Pack, said on Saturday in Pogradec that she hopes to see a calm election process on 28 June. She was invited by the Mayor of Pogradec to open the tourism season in the city. She said that Albania was going in the right direction and praised the enthusiasm of Albanians for EU integration. She said that she was sorry that EU countries were not so sympathetic about the enlargement process. However, she said that Albanians need to keep this enthusiasm alive, because the day when their objectives will be realized is not distant.  It is reported that she campaigned on Sunday with the Prime Minister Sali Berisha in a DP women’s forum event. She said that the last four years had brought major changes to Albania and wished the DP victory.


RULE OF LAW

Families of Gërdec complain the Constitutional Court (Sun)

The 21 families of the victims of the Gërdec blast deposited on Friday in the Constitutional Court the request for a review of the High Court decision that separated their lawsuit from the criminal case. They asked the Court to suspend this decision and send the case for review with another penal college. According to the request drafted by the four lawyers who represent the families of the victims, the High Court decision was unconstitutional, arbitrary and harmful for Albanian jurisprudence. They claim that they were denied the right to be considered party in the criminal case, although they have been recognized as damaged by the General Prosecution. They claim that they were denied the right for a legal regular trial. The request is expected to be examined by the Constitutional Court in the following days.

HCJ: Violations in Durrës and Vlora courts (Sun)

The inspectors of the High Council of Justice (HCJ) found serious violations during the inspections made in the courts of Vlora, Elbasan, Gjirokastra, Durrës and Tirana.  HCJ sources said that the inspection was now over and that they were now drafting the report. According to them, the most serious violations were found in Gjirokastra, Vlora and Durrës Courts. They said that they will propose disciplinary measures for dismissal and penal proceeding against three judges. They found two cases when two judges decided on a case without the presence of the third judge who subsequently signed the decision later.


ECONOMY

IMF: We would like to have good relations with Albania (Sat)

The President of the European Bank for Development, Thomas Mirow, said that “Our co-operation with Albania is not directly influenced by the country’s relations with the IMF but we always would prefer that the countries we work with have good relations with the IMF.” He said that they would like to work with Albania as with other countries of the western Balkans and pointed that the financial economic crisis is coming to these countries at a slower pace than to the rest of Europe.