Albania Launches Electoral Campaign

TIRANA, May 28 – Albania officially launches the electoral campaign Friday but all political parties have already started it for many months now.
A total of 36 political parties organized in four coalitions will take part in the Albanian parliamentary elections on June 28th. The ruling Democratic Party (DP) leads the coalition “Alliance for Changes” of ten parties. Another right-wing faction is led by the Christian Democratic Party of Albania. The main opposition Socialist Party has five allies, joined in the left-wing coalition “Unification for Changes”. The Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) is at the helm of the fourth, left-wing coalition called “Socialist Alliance”.
For these elections, 45 parties registered as electoral subjects.
The main opposition Socialists of the Tirana Mayor, Edi Rama, launched the campaign Thursday with a rally held at the students’ camp, obviously targeting young voters and also trying to remind Albanians that the former communist regime fell after the students’ protests in 1990.
The governing Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha will hold its launching rally Monday.
Though the official 30-day campaign period did not begin until 29 May, parties had already campaigned actively, with leading political figures touring the country.
The governing Democrats emphasize their achievements in government, including NATO membership and application for EU membership, as well as infrastructure development and the fight against corruption.
Opposition parties promise improvements in areas such as infrastructure, education and healthcare. Both opposing groupings accuse each other of corruption. Opposition parties allege that the DP has benefited from televised public-information campaigns stressing the government’s achievements, broadcast at a time before the official campaign, when parties are not allowed to have political advertisement on television.
There is a marked lack of trust among many political parties towards the election administration, according to a preliminary report of the ODIHR monitoring mission.
Berisha is keen to build and capitalize on a new wave of optimism since the country formally submitted its application to join the EU on April 28. That occasion marked “the return of my nation to the family of European nations,” Berisha has said, suggesting a mission accomplished.
In reality, however, the event is merely the symbolic beginning in the latest stage of Albania’s long and tortuous path to the EU, and full acceptance as a stable and economically developed liberal democracy.
Europe has made it very clear that holding free and fair elections is the key precondition for further progress in the integration process.
EU membership is a whole new challenge, with even greater benefits than NATO – but also more hurdles.
Certainly, Albania has come a long way since 1997, when the country collapsed into anarchy after the failure of pyramid investment schemes.
The country has clocked up GDP growth of more than 6% each year between 2004 and 2008, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects that it will be the only economy to grow in Southeast Europe this year. Meanwhile, inflation has generally been restrained and the national debt has been paid down and remains at a manageable level. Political stability has also been achieved despite the lack of trust among the political groupings.
External relations are characterized by the strong support of the US, which views Albania as a key ally in a troublesome and strategically important region – hence almost unquestioning support for Kosova’s independence from those administrations.
There has been stated that Albania’s accession into the EU could come as early as 2015, which seems excessively optimistic.
Albania is still the second poorest country in Europe (after Moldova). Per-capita income was $3,500 in 2008, according to the Bank of Albania, around a quarter of the EU average.
Albania has a trade deficit exceeding 25% and a current account deficit of 9.8% (according to a 2008 forecast by the IMF), and the latter will be more difficult to finance in this year’s slowdown.
The world and, better say, Europe is looking more to low administrative capacity in the tiny Balkan country. Steady economic progress is one thing, overhauling the country’s administrative infrastructure quite another.
Brussels, burned by its experience of fund wastage in Bulgaria, will be loath to admit Albania until the country meets exacting standards of efficient public spending, as well as adequate judicial oversight.
Despite progress in the fight, corruption and organized crime remain serious problems.