Election Commissioners In Trials

TIRANA, March 3 – Three election commissioners in northern Shkodra were fined with small amounts for their abuse of posts during the June 28, 2009 parliamentary elections.
Five others have to introduce themselves every couple of weeks at the court in southern Fier waiting for trial.
Others, also in Fier, are waiting likely to be taken to the court.
That’s a good sign, one may say.
That is what the governing Democratic Party is answering when the opposition Socialist Party wants a partial recount – taking the cases to the court as politics cannot resolve them.
That is not what the opposition is saying at the moment. It is silently accepting such cases, and approving, after criticizing the prosecutor’s office of standing idle in such obvious law breaks during the polls last year.
The question is whether such efforts will really have a positive impact on the election transparency, or will they be in vain and again be exploited politically by the parties.
One is also frightened of such trial-mania for the commissioners. If they are abundant, will prosecutors and courts be capable of coping with them, and will their trial be fair and legal?
Whatever the outcome, sentencing commissioners, who are all nominated by their affiliated political parties, is a clear sign that the law can no longer be broken during the elections.
That will certainly give positive results for holding free and fair elections and frighten people that political support does not mean breaking the law and not fearing legal repercussions.