TIRANA, Feb. 13 – Judges that decide to leave the bench to enter politics must be subject to a full vetting in the framework of Albania’s justice reform, Taulant Balla, a Socialist MP and co-chairman of a parliamentary commission on electoral reform said in a press conference Monday.
The ruling Socialist Party does not want justice officials who resign to avoid a vetting process to run for elected office in the parliamentary elections of June 18, Balla added.
“The proposal that we are depositing is in fact about an addition to the Electoral Code that prevent the inclusion of people who have not been vetted to the list of electoral candidates,” Balla said. “Considering that the parliament has approved the legal framework involving people with criminal records also known as decriminalization bill, judges and prosecutors that have not had their background checked must not be included in the list.”
The co-chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Electoral Reform said that the vetting process is more important than decriminalization.
The SP proposal, which is not part of the 53 recommendations of OSCE ODIHR will be submitted to the Ad Hoc Committee on Electoral Reform and must be voted by the main opposition Democratic Party members as well. If the opposition refuses to vote on the proposal, then the ruling majority will sent the initiative to parliament to vote the amendment as part of the electoral code.
“If the Democratic Party continues to boycott the commission, we will submit the proposal based on a regulation of parliament regarding legal amendments,” Balla said.
The mandate of the Ad Hoc Committee on Electoral Reform chaired by representatives of two major parties expired on Feb. 9. The Socialist Party sent an official request to the parliament demanding an extension of the mandate by a month.
This would be the second extension to the mandate of the parliamentary committee.
In December 2016, the parliament decided to extend the mandate by another two months. Members of the committee convened only two times, but were never able to reach consensus on the amendments to the Electoral Code based on OSCE ODIHR recommendations.
The opposition has boycotted the meetings after its request to include biometrical identification of voters as well as electronic voting and counting in the Electoral Code and implemented in the upcoming parliamentary elections of June was not accepted by members of the ruling majority.
Opposition representatives have repeatedly said they are worried the ruling party will use dirty tactics to distort the vote, citing recent cases in municipal elections, where vote-buying and intimidation of voters have been documented.
The Socialists are trying to steal the elections through the use of money gained from crime and drug trafficking, Lulzim Basha, opposition leader, has said.
Representatives of the Socialist Party and Socialist Movement for Integration claimed time is not enough time to implement the system before the June election. The ruling majority also drew on the opinion of the OSCE Presence in Albania according to which, profound changes to the legislation needed to pursue e-vote and e-count, cannot be made at the current time.
This is not the first time that Albania tries to implement technology in elections. Back in 2013, Socialist Party and Democratic Party agreed for the implementation of a pilot project in capital Tirana and district of Fier. The project failed due to technical glitches.
