Small political parties warn main parties on electoral reforms

TIRANA, Sep. 28 – Albanian small political parties warned the governing Democratic party and the main opposition Socialist Party to pay attention to their remarks in their efforts to participate in the electoral reform in a parliamentary commission.
The two main parties have not accepted the experts offered by the small parties on the commission. They base this rejection upon the fact that the group of experts will be made up of a member from their parties and one from the OSCE.
Last week, members of the small parties, including the Social Democrats, Christian Democrats and the Socialist Movement for Integration, walked out of a meeting of the parliamentary committee as a sign of protest. The first meeting in this plenary session of the Commission on Electoral Reform was accompanied by many debates. The small parties’ politicians said the two main parties cannot decide on electoral reform on their own and without their consent, or they threatened boycotting the next elections.
The two main parties will very likely ask for an increase of the minimum percentage that would allow a political party to enter the parliament from the 2.5 percent it is now.
That would seriously threaten the smaller parties, many of which do not reach that number.