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ELECTORAL ISSUES

OSCE and US Ambassadors urge against manipulations in elections

The U.S. Ambassador John Withers and the Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania, Ambassador Robert Bosch, urged yesterday against election manipulations. They made these comments during a ceremony where observers from two Albanian non-governmental organizations – Elections to Conduct Agency (ECA) and KRIIK – that will carry out a Parallel Vote Tabulation were accredited. The USAID-supported project was presented by the head of the ECA and former chair of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Ilirjan Celibashi, who said that the project aimed at increasing the transparency of the ballot counting process and the confidence on the electoral process. The current CEC Chair, Arben Ristani, attended the ceremony, too, and expressed support to the parallel monitoring.

The newspapers quote Ambassador Bosch as saying: “So no more problems, no more excuses, no more apologies for past failures. This time these elections have to work. This means keeping the public dialogue calm and reasonable.
Most of all, it means allowing all voters to go freely to the polling booth so that they can vote secretly and independently for whoever they wish.
Whether man or woman, rural or city dweller, young or old, private or public sector worker, everyone must be allowed to exercise their constitutional right to vote in accordance with their conscience, in secret and without any outside pressures. So may the elections of 2009 open a new chapter in the democratic development of this country. Lets have no more stories of family voting or of episodes where voters are ‘instructed’ to use the cameras in their mobile phones to record how they voted, as this is strictly prohibited.”

Along the same lines, the U.S. Ambassador said: “I ask all of those voters on June 28 to exercise the most cherished of all civil rights: the right to vote.  I say to those voters: Do not be afraid to vote! To be honest, we all know that the past Albanian elections have not met international standards.
As the newest NATO member, they must meet those standards. The fraudulent practices of the past must not happen again. So, if someone asks to buy your vote, if someone pressures you to vote a certain way, if someone tries to intimidate you by threatening your job or your family’s well-being, if someone asks you to photograph your ballot so he can know how you voted, if someone tries to alter a passport or other ID in order to vote multiple times, if the police or other officials show bias in any way, if anyone tries to tamper with the ballot boxes or with the vote counting, please know that these act are illegal and report them to the monitors.  Please know that the international community, including the U.S. will be watching. Those practices that I have described and others are the practices of the past; they have no place in today’s world or in today’s Albania.

In related news, the Socialist Party welcomed Ambassador Wither’s strong appeal against manipulations. A member of the SP executive board, Lindita Nikolla, said that whoever would dare to manipulate would face the law and that the SP was prepared to protect ach and every vote. [Note: Remarks of Ambassadors Bosch and Withers are available on www.osce.org/albania and http://tirana.usembassy.gov respectively]

Ristani says commissioners’ training failed

The Central Elections Committee (CEC) Chair Arben Ristani declared yesterday that the training of the Voting Centres Commissions (VCCs) commissioners for the 28 June electoral process has failed. According to him, this behaviour might affect the standards related to this part of the electoral process.
Ristani said that in case the commissioners do not have the sufficient level of knowledge of the legal framework, the implementation of the Electoral Code will not be possible. He called on political parties to urgently submit their proposals for commissioners so that they proceed with the training.

In related news, Ristani received yesterday a five-member delegation of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s observers led by Wolfgang Grossruck. The CEC has already accredited 39 short-term observers fielded by the Parliamentary Assembly.

CEC asks for 700 more ballot papers

Central Elections Committee (CEC) asked for the production of 700 new ballot papers which are expected to arrive in the country on Friday. The new ballot papers were required because two new voting centres were established in a Prison in Lushnja and another one in Fushë-Kruja Prison. The CEC Chair said that it is a mistake of the local authorities not to include the prisoners in the final voters list. The CEC proposal was contested by the opposition judicial representatives and the left wing members of this committee. Genc Gjonçaj, the Socialist Party (SP) representative said that these new ballot papers can be used for manipulations. CEC has closed the contract with “Cetis” company which produced the ballot papers, so the 700 new ballots order is not part of this contract. The CEC Chair said that he negotiated with the company representatives and they accepted to produce them in exchange for 2500 EUR. CEC Deputy Chair Dëshira Subashi said that this is unprecedented. After many debates, CEC passed with four votes in favour and three against the instruction for 700 new ballots.

Media Monitoring Board presented to CEC a consensual report

The Media Monitoring Board presented to the Central Elections Committee
(CEC) a consensual report regarding the TV monitoring during the electoral period. The board’s report which is the last one for this campaign was passed by all seven members representing both Democratic Party (DP) and Socialist Party (SP). According to this document, compensation in timing is needed for some televisions in favour of the two bigger political parties.
For the first time, the board proposed fines totaling 1.5 million ALL for two local TV channels; TV Rozafa and TV Berati. The CEC members considered the proposed measure as not appropriate and voted with seven votes in favour that the fine be removed from the local TV channels.

Berisha: Topalli’s declaration against SP, a lapsus

Speaking in a televised interview yesterday, Prime Minister Sali Berisha considered the recent declaration of Assembly Speaker Jozefina Topalli, who considered the Republican Party (RP) as a Mafia and spy party (alongside the Demo-Christian Party, DCP) as a possible lapsus of hers. Berisha stressed the RP is the Democratic Party’s main ally and did not rule out the possibility of having RP Chair Fatmir Mediu in his new Government. With regard, to Mediu’s implication with the Gerdec tragedy, Berisha said Mediu is totally not guilty as long as the Court has not decided otherwise, and from the moral point of view he resigned. Commenting on the murder of a local DCP head, Berisha dismissed any political grounds behind it. The Prime Minister said the DP conducted an utterly constructive campaign, adding that the assassination of a DP activist in a Durres village was the only
incident.   

Rama says there will be reforms during first 100 days

Socialist Party (SP) Chair Edi Rama, during an interview with “Voice of America” yesterday, explained his government’s priorities for the first 100 days. According to him, the work of the new socialist government during the first 100 days will be focused on restructuring the government institutions in order to transform them into functional institutions which serve the citizens. He said that the new government will work to take the country out of the crisis by resuming negotiations with the International Monetary Funds (IMF). According to him, special attention will be paid to remittances and the immigrants’ savings in Albania. He stressed that the new government will be open for foreign investments but not those who are harmful for the country. Rama said that the elections’ objective is not to separate the people between leftists and rightists, but for their union beyond the left and the right and for their detachment from old politics.

Meta: SMI, leading force in four regions, ahead of SP and DP

Wednesday evening’s guest on the talk show, “Opinion” of TV Klan Ilir Meta (SMI leader), declared that his party heads the election results in Berat and Fier and that his party has surpassed both the SP and DP in electoral support. When asked to comment on an earlier declaration that Meta would “review” his position at the head of the SMI if his party does not win 35 seats in Sunday’s general elections, Meta replied that the SMI will win more than 40 seats in the next parliament. He declared that the SMI is in front of the other parties in four regions. Meta strongly denounced the political surveys and polls commissioned by the SP and DP as fraudulent and as being manipulated, and threatened to take them all to court. When asked why a left wing voter should vote for the SMI, Meta replied that he is the only left wing leader in these elections. Meta predicts that Rama will come to his senses very soon and will turn to the SMI to be a part of this unity just as he did in 2007 in the local government elections. Meta claimed that Rama has no electoral program; that he is unprepared for the main tasks of running a country. Meta was critical of Rama’s work as Mayor of Tirana and said that the City Hall has neglected work on increasing public green areas, sport fields etc. He predicts that the SMI will win 7-8 seats in Tirana. Replying to a question about how Meta felt over Rama’s refusal to reply to the SMI’s appeal for the unification of the Left, Meta said this just shows how unprepared Rama is to shoulder bigger responsibilities; he said there was no reason to despair over the refusal, but that he was not pleased either. Meta underscored strongly that he would only joins forces with the SP in a coalition and never with the DP. When asked what his conditions would be to govern with the SP, Meta said he believed the Albanians would approve Meta as PM again because he had already created a successful track record in this position. When asked what he would do if he lost, Meta reaffirmed that he would review his position as the head of the SMI. Panorama also includes a quote from the “International Herald Tribune” analysis on the political situation in the country in the lead up to E-Day this weekend, which claims that the coalition, ‘Socialist Alliance for Integration,’ headed by Ilir Meta will be the determining factor in the creation of the government that will emerge from the 28 June, 2009. Another issue of concern for the analysts of this newspaper, says Panorama, is the problem of ID cards. 

DP, SP to finish electoral campaign at same time

The two bigger political parties have planned to hold their closing meetings of the electoral campaign on 26 June in the centre of Tirana. Both rallies will start on 19.30 hrs. The Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) is expected to close the electoral campaign on 25 June. The closing electoral campaign rally of the Democratic Party (DP) will be held in the Scanderbeg Square while the Socialist Party (SP) will have their rally in front of the Prime Minister’s Office. According to the newspaper, in the Scanderbeg Square there is a glass structure full of giant posters of Edi Rama and that allegedly this might be a reason for causing incidents during the DP rally.


RULE OF LAW

HCJ to respect High Court decision on Vlora judges

The High Council of Justice (HCJ) ‘obeyed’ to the High Court decision regarding the reassignment of three judges from the Vlora Court of Appeal who were dismissed a year ago on charges of violations of procedures.
Sources of the HCJ said that they respect the decision according to which Gjinovefa Gaba, Sokol Ngresi and Vasil Hanxhari be reassigned in their previous positions. According to sources from the Ministry of Justice, the three judges will be reassigned in case there are vacancies in the court.
However, they would get a normal salary as if they were already employed by the court. The three judges were dismissed by HCJ in the beginning of 2008 


REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Presidents urge for stronger regional ties

President Bamir Topi invited in an informal meeting in Vlora the Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, Kosova’s President Fatmir Sejdiu and Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic. This is the first regional meeting where Kosova’s President Sejdiu takes part. The presidents pushed for stronger regional ties as a step toward the area's integration into the European Union and NATO. “The EU countries would be highly appreciative if our countries were to increase their economic and other exchanges,” President Topi said after the meeting. Kosova President Sejdiu said the EU will not be complete without accepting the Western Balkan countries. The heads of state discussed infrastructure and energy projects, tourism, the business environment, strengthening economic ties and fighting crime. During the meeting, Kosova and Macedonia confirmed that the border issue between them is now closed.
President Sejdiu met with Prime Minister Berisha after the meeting and considered Durres-Kukës-Morina road an extraordinary important corridor, as a linking bridge that will boost movement and exchanges not only between two countries, but also in the region.


ECONOMY

BoA not to decrease interests due to inflation

The Bank of Albania (BoA) warned yesterday that the Albanian economy has given clear signs of slowdown and that the inflation is increasing as a result of the domestic currency devaluation. They did not give any comments regarding the economic growth, but for fear of raise of prices, BoA decided not to change the base norm of interest, which is currently 5.75 percent.
During the recent months according to the newspaper, as a result of the raise of the treasury bonds interest, the loans in ALL have become twice more expensive than the loans in EUR, but the banks refuse to issue loans in EUR by thus forcing Albanians to accept the expensive interests of the ALL.
BoA expressed their concern about the influence of the ALL devaluation on the prices of imported goods. According to the bank, the devaluation was reflected in higher prices for the consumers.