Albania again to consider electoral code legislation

TIRANA, Dec 16 – Albania’s parliament agreed to create a commission to again deal with the electoral code for the 2009 elections after the country’s president refused to sign the legislation into law.
In explaining his decision, President Bamir Topi said the original draft was unconstitutional because its wording did not allow him to announce an election date without violating the constitution.
The Socialist opposition accepted the mistake in the law and declared it will work to amend it, though the ruling Democratic Party said the president’s move was not well thought through.
But this week the Socialists’ tone became harsher toward the president, saying that a new law was not needed and the existing law could be corrected.
It seemed they were afraid of a possible move by the majority Democratic Party-led coalition to exploit the issue to further urge rifts they have with the small Socialist Movement for Integration of former premier Ilir Meta.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha has maneuvered well, saying they would agree on any change but that depended on the deal reached between Socialist leader Edi Rama and Meta.
Albania’s two main parties agreed reached agreement about the new election code on November 18, saying that it would ensure free and fair elections next year, but minor parties have complained that new elections will work against them.
The European Union has made it clear to Albania, which has yet to hold elections that meet international standards, that next year’s polls must be above criticism if it wants to join the 27-member bloc.
The Democrats and Socialists said they have written a code based upon the best European models without foreign tutorship and well ahead of the election, a milestone for Albania’s 18-year-old democracy.
Berisha and Rama have come under pressure by civil society groups and smaller parties in parliament over the draft bill. They accuse Berisha’s Democrats and the opposition Socialists of using the new electoral code to rig the parliamentary elections to be held next year. They say the changes proposed by the larger parties in the electoral code are politically motivated and aim to push the smaller parties out of parliament.
Ten lawmakers from the smaller parties headed by Meta held an eight day hunger strike in the parliament building to protest against the proposal.
The new code, which is based on two proportional subdividing mathematical formulas, makes a distinction between smaller parties that join a list with a larger one, and those that run alone; with the latter needing more votes to pass the parliamentary threshold.
Next year’s elections will be a key test to the country’s continuing integration efforts into the European Union.