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ELECTORAL ISSUES

Only Nano, Koçi participate in Meta-summoned roundtable

Only the Real Socialist Party ’91 (RSP’91) and former Socialist Party Chair and former Prime Minister Fatos Nano participated in roundtable summoned yesterday by the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI). At the end of the meeting, the three participants came out with a joint stand engaging themselves to co-ordinate tefforts and actions with the final aim of removing Prime Minister Sali Berisha from power. The SMI Chair, Ilir Meta, said that the invitation remains valid for all those who want to contribute to Berisha’s removal. “Co-operation and co-ordination for the protection of the 28 June election standards is a must and therefore I appeal to all SMI and Socialist Party structures, as well as to all the other opposition forces, to co-ordinate their actions at the grassroots, the voting centre commissions and the ballot counting centres so that election standards are protected in the most efficient way,” Meta said, adding he hoped that SP Chair Edi Rama would become part of the SMI-initiated integration project.
Fatos Nano considered Rama’s absence as a political irresponsibility and infantile action. He said he represented at the roundtable all the Socialists across the country. The Chair of the RSP’91, Petro Koçi said that the Left should have a unified objective – the removal of Sali Berisha. He also said that the roundtable remained opened for the other left-wing parties.

Topi says Election Day should not be a battle

President of the Republic Bamir Topi met yesterday with the directors of independent institutions, including General Prosecutor Ina Rama, State Police General Director Ahmet Prençi, Constitutional Court Chair Vladimir Kristo, High Court Chair Shpresa Breçaj, Governor of the Bank of Albania Ardian Fullani, the High Inspectorate for the Declaration and Verification of Assets (HIDVA) Director Adriatik Llalla, State Intelligence Service (SIS) Director Bahri Shaqiri, High State Audit (HSA) Director Robert Çeku and the People’s Advocate Emir Dobjani. The president asked the heads of these institutions to maintain their constitutional role and be fully committed to ensure peaceful elections and a safe post-electoral situation. According to Topi, no matter who is the winner or the loser, the political parties need to collaborate and give to the citizens the message that Election Day is not a battle, but a celebration. He said that these elections are the real pre-condition for achieving a free movement of Albanians in Europe. 

Ristani says political parties are damaging elections standards

The Central Elections Committee (CEC) Chair Arben Ristani asked the political parties not to block the creation of Voting Centres Committees
(VCCs) as this would risk the standards of the elections. According to him, two trainings organized by CEC have failed and without trained commissioners the standards will be harmed. He asked the political parties to take urgent measures to ensure the VCC members.

Berisha says Fier will be freed from thermo-power plants

Prime Minister Berisha continued his electoral tour in Lushnja and Fier yesterday where he asked the socialists to vote Democratic Party (DP) in the
28 June elections. According to Berisha, the vote for DP is a vote for European Albania and the free movement of Albanian citizens within the EU countries.  He said that during the second government mandate, they will finance every farming project and that priority will be given to the infrastructure. With regards to the environmental issues, Berisha said that the fields and the oil wells will be rehabilitated. He said that Fier will be freed from the thermo-power plants and other scrap hips left from the socialist industry.

Rama says Berisha isolated Albania

The Socialist Party (SP) Chair Edi Rama, during yesterday’s meeting in Durrës, compared the politics of Prime Minister Berisha with the period of communism under the Enver Hoxha regime. He said that the old politics is incapable of lifting borders with Europe. He said that the reason for Albania’s isolation is the Prime Minister’s family who is trying to make businesses with the country. He promised that the next socialist government will not allow the construction of thermo plants and other scrap hips.

Meta says in Elbasan SMI should be voted because they have a plan

Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) Chair Ilir Meta during the electoral meeting held in Elbasan yesterday invited the participants to vote number 24 in the ballot paper, because according to him, the SMI programme provides for opening new jobs and e new perspective for Elbasan and the entire country. He said that the SMI plan will take the country out of the crisis. Meta added that SMI is the only party who has presented a programme with clear strategies how to solve the unemployment issue and how to reduce the living cost.

“Problematic” candidates file lawsuits against Coalition for a Clean Parliament

The publication of a list of candidates who according to the Coalition for a Clean Parliament do not deserve to become Members of Parliament sparkled the reaction of some of the people named in the list. The Demo-Christian Party (DCP), which has three of its candidates in the list, considered it to be a speculative and biased evaluation, whereas a Socialist Party (SP) candidate in the Kukes region, Asllan Dogjani, went further to file a criminal lawsuit against the leader of the Coalition, former President of the Republic Alfred Moisiu. Another SP candidate, Vangjel Tavo, said he had filed a criminal lawsuit against the Coalition. He also said he was asked by a go-between for 50,000 euro in exchange of having his name removed from the list. The Coalition’s conclusions were also contested by a Social Democracy Party
(SDY) candidate, Artur Duçkallari, and the Property with Justice Association, which had his candidate Gëzim Boçari. 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.

IPR Marketing and Gani Bobi publish latest polls’ results

IPR Marketing and Ora News TV published yesterday the most recent survey conducted during the period 17-20 June. Out of 1504 citizens interviewed in total all over the country, 41 percent said they will vote Socialist Party
(SP) and 44 percent Democratic Party (DP). With regard to coalitions, the “Union for Change” headed by SP was voted by 44.4 percent (G99 was voted by
2.7 percent of the interviewed while all other parties by 0.7 percent), while the “Alliance of Change” was voted by 47.9 percent (Republican Party
(RP) 1 percent, and all the other parties 2.1 percent). The coalition “Socialist Alliance for Integration” headed by the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) was voted by 6 percent of the interviewed while the Freedom Pole by 1.5 percent. Compared to the survey conducted one week ago by this company, the SP coalition percentage was increased by 0.6 percent while the DP coalition was increased by 0.9 percent. In contrast with the two bigger parties, SMI has undergone a decrease by 1.5 percent while the Freedom Pole maintains the same level. 13 percent of the interviewed were undecided while 10 percent did not answer. In related news, “Gani Bobi”
Institute published yesterday the survey for Elbasan. Out of 1600 citizens interviewed in total, 42.2 percent said they would vote DP while 31 percent said they would vote SP. Compared to the results of the survey last month, the difference between the two political parties from 4 percent in May is now over 11 percent. The percentage of undecided voters was also decreased to 9 percent compared to 11 percent last month.  SMi according to the survey is the third on the list with 2.9 percent of the votes. Then the list continues with G99 with 2.1 percent, Republican Party (RP) with 0.8 percent, Freedom Pole with 0.6 percent and Demo-Christian Party (DCP) with 0.6 percent.

PACE to observe the parliamentary elections in Albania

A 19-member delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), led by Corien Jonker (Netherlands, EPP/CD), will be visiting Albania from 26 to 29 June to observe the parliamentary elections, alongside observers from the OSCE and NATO Parliamentary Assemblies, and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR). The delegation is to meet the Chair of the Central Election Commission and representatives of the political parties standing in the election, civil society and the media, before observing the ballot on 28 June in a sample of polling stations across the country. A PACE pre-electoral delegation, visiting Tirana on 4 and 5 June, stressed that the authorities had the responsibility to take all necessary measures to provide each voter with a new ID card in order to ensure they can exercise their constitutional right on 28 June. Considering that these elections will be a test of the maturity of democracy in Albania, it also called on the authorities to fully implement the recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly contained in its Resolution 1538 (2007).
Preliminary conclusions will be announced during a joint press conference on Monday, 29 June.

British Ambassador says elections should pass ODIHR test

Elections are Albania’s first test to show that it is a dignified NATO member, the new British Ambassador to Albania, Fiona McIlwham, said in an interview with Panorama. “The nearest and most important challenge for Albania is the election process at the end of this month. The United Kingdom and the rest of the international community are closely monitoring this process. These elections give Albania the chance to demonstrate maturity and a high level of democracy being a NATO member. In order that Albania passes with quick steps to the next European integration phase, it is absolutely crucial that these elections be calm and evaluated as free and fair by ODIHR,” She said.


RULE OF LAW

Mjaft! issues findings of Assembly monitoring project

The Mjaft! Movement presented yesterday the findings of the project I Vote, which focused on the performance of the Assembly from January 2006 to April 2009. According to Mjaft!, the Democratic Party presented draft laws which fulfilled only 20 per cent of its electoral promises; the Socialist Party kept 27.5 per cent of its promises in terms of approved laws and the Republican Party 32.1 per cent, with property restitution being the biggest unkept promise. According to the report, financial expenses of the Assembly increased by 30.3 per cent from 2006 to 2009 making it the institution with the highest running costs in the entire region.

Tirana District Court Chair to be elected after 28 June elections

The High Council of Justice postponed the election of Tirana District Court Chair for 8 July 2009. Some of the candidates were present during yesterday’s meeting and some of them presented the programmes. Sources from HCJ said that the candidates debated with each other. The candidates were judges Ridvan Hado, Petrit Çomo, Gerd Hoxha, Manjola Bejleri, Ilir Çeliku, Artan Zeneli and Kastriot Selita. Bejleri did not participate in the meeting, same as Hado, Çeliku and Hoxha. HCJ decided to gather information about the candidates and make the decision public on 8 July. During the meeting, they discussed also about the disciplinary measures asked by the Ministry of Justice against some judges.


INTEGRATION

Swedish Presidency backs EU expansion

On Monday, the Swedish Minister for European Union Affairs, Cecilia Malmström, and Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt met journalists in Brussels and spoke about the political priorities for Sweden's EU Presidency over the next six months. Bildt stated that Sweden will work on enlarging the EU to include Croatia and Turkey, and also work on completing the visa liberalization question with the countries of the Western Balkans. He said that the speed of progress in the technical questions related to visa liberalization will depend on the countries themselves, adding that he expects a recommendation from the European Commission regarding the matter very soon. “The request of Montenegro to receive candidate status has arrived to the European Commission and we hope that we will receive an application from Albania as well after next week’s elections,” he explained.