By ARBEN MALAJ
In its protracted transition period, the Socialist Party has targeted and contributed towards the modernization of Albanian politics. However, following the elections of 2009, the Socialist Party is radicalizing political stands, applying boycotts of the Parliament of its country, for undefined periods of time. In some cases, the debate within the party bodies on the negative effects of a boycott was inadequate, in other cases truncated or excessively saturated with the alternative thinking. The boycott began in the absence of the final report of OSCE/ODIHR on the last elections. The fact that everyone is waiting for the OSCE/ODIHR report on these elections should not come as a surprise, and even less so as “regret for the violation of national sovereignty,” for a country that applies for EU membership. This report will have several main moments: the identification of the problems observed during all phases of the elections; the clarification of the responsibilities of the Majority and the Opposition, the CEC and the Electoral College on concrete violations. This report, even in its cautious diplomatic language, will provide a political evaluation of the achievement or failure to achieve standards. The Report will try to offer a series of recommendations, to reduce and eliminate a repetition of these violations, proposing suggestions to all political parties on how to improve the electoral process which will lead to these standards finally being attained. It is expected that this Report will have no mean impact on the country’s integration. On the basis of the assessments in this report and the consensus with the 27 member states of the EU, the Swedish Presidency of the European Council will be obliged to shed light on the fate of the application our country has made to join the EU. Prior to the elections the EU repeatedly said that the fate of this application lies in the hands aof the Albanians themselves, in the standards of the 2009 parliamentary elections. If the Swedish Presidency passes this application over to the European Commission, irrespective of the deadline of the process of preparing public opinion, Albania’s request for EU membership would be considered accepted. Winning the status of a candidate country will be a later process, by no means easy and by no means short. This does not mean that automatically all the observations and complaints concerning the electoral process become null and void, what it does mean though is that, on the whole, these observations have not created arguments required to freeze the application. In this case, the Opposition loses a fundamental argument for its boycott and especially for its integration mission of the country. The Socialist Party has only one option open to it to exert some impact on political developments in Albania, and that is if the international assessment on the elections brings about even a temporary paralysis of the country’s integration process; only if the application is blocked and is not passed on to the European Commission. In this case, in the course of fulfilling its mission and political responsibilities to speed up the country’s integration, the SP could make an impact up until the moment of early elections. In essence, these early elections could be like ‘an exam for the autumn season to improve marks in election standards,’ so that the country does not become bogged down on its course towards integration. Every other stand or exhausted sophism to make this boycott legitimate would be a very bad investment for the Socialist Party. Due to the very prolonged Opposition, some political parties, with radical stands or permanent, internal political bickering, lose public faith and support, the political dedication of its members and their elected, fades. Gradually, highly qualified individuals, tired of the absence of the effectiveness of the Opposition and the decline of optimism for future victory, grow less active and begin to withdraw. With this depletion of generating and quality human resources, these parties begin to decline and face the threat of remaining in the Opposition. The SP, in the Opposition, should be able to win due the supremacy of its values, its parliamentary and public performance on the whole. The moment is here where we should speak out in public too and stress that radicalism is suicide for the political future of the SP. This is a boycott that must be boycotted immediately. The SP must seek and re-gain its position of the modernizing avant-garde of Albanian politics. Public debate for an institutional Opposition, debate on not boycotting institutions must continue, irrespective of the threats of expulsion.
