29th Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 20-22 October 2015)

Presentation of the draft report and recommendation

Observation of local elections in Albania (21 June 2015)

Rapporteur: Stewart DICKSON (United Kingdom, R, ILGD)

Speaking Notes

Dear colleagues,

It is my pleasure to inform this Chamber about major findings and recommendations further to the observation of local elections held in Albanian on 21 June. You may know that these elections were the first to be held after the adoption of the territorial-administrative reform adopted in Albania in July 2014. Legislation was also changed related to a 50 per cent quota of female candidates for the lists to Municipal Councils – a new requirement which was very welcomed by the Congress.

In general, the 2015 local elections can be seen as an important step towards “normalisation” of the political environment in Albania. Unlike previous elections, the campaign was peaceful and civilised and voting organised, except isolated incidents, in an overall calm and orderly manner. Also in the immediate post-election phase the parties and coalitions refrained, by and large, from violent disputes. Quite a novelty!

However, what remains to be an issue is the political polarisation of the country along party lines representing the two major political camps: the Socialist Party led by the current Prime Minister Edi Rama and the Democratic Party led by the former Mayor of Tirana Lulzim Basha. Deep polarisation is a long-standing phenomenon in Albania. It affected negatively previous votes and also the local elections in June. This is why the Congress’ observers suggest the Albanian authorities to revise the modalities of appointment and dismissal of members of electoral bodies at all levels, with the ultimate objective to de-politicise and professionalise the whole electoral administration.

The second key recommendation concerns, in our opinion, legal provisions on residence requirements for voter registration at local level. Despite efforts to improve their quality, voters’ lists in Albania still include some 1 million of people living de facto outside the country. If on Election Day in the country, these citizens are entitled to vote in local elections. Apart from the risk of electoral fraud and manipulation - we believe that local issues should be decided by the electorate actually residing in each specific municipality, in line with Congress’ Resolution 369 adopted last March.

Other recommendations include the creation of a level playing field for independent candidates, the reinforcement of the complaints and appeals system and the acceleration of the counting process which is – due to its length – a possible risk of unrest after elections. Congress’ observers also heard allegations of intimidations and pressure on public employees, vote-buying and bribery of members of electoral commissions. All these are unacceptable practices and the Albanian authorities should not hesitate to investigate all cases of potential fraud.

In conclusion, let me bring to your attention a request of the Congress’ observers with regard to the above mentioned reform of local self-government in Albania. As already said, the June elections were the first after this reform which brought about a reduction from previously 373 local government units (formerly “urban municipalities” and “communes”) to 61 municipalities. “Communes” were abolished.

You may know that already prior to the June elections, the opposition has raised concerns to the Congress, on different occasions, over this reform and some interlocutors we met in Tirana supported this theory. In particular, the delegation heard about “gerrymandering” – this is when the administrative division favors one particular camp in elections – and the malapportionment of mandates. Of course, it was not possible to examine these accusations during the observation mission.

Therefore, the Monitoring Committee was proposed and accepted at its 17 September meeting in Warsaw to undertake, at the very earliest, a fact-finding mission in Albania, in the framework of the Congress’ post-electoral dialogue.

Most naturally, such a fact-finding mission would include also the Congress’ mechanism to assess the situation of local and regional democracy, since the 2015 local elections were held in a legal framework reflecting the changes in the new territorial-administrative division of the country.

Thank you – I am ready to reply to your questions.