The majority of Albanians believe “opening new job opportunities” should be a priority of both the new parliament and the new executive while statistically insignificant small groups expect the parliament to undertake any nationalistic endeavors.
By ALBA CELA*
If one is to read the papers in Albania in this electoral campaign, but more generally during this last year, he/she will fall under the impression that there is a sudden race of the type ‘Mirror mirror on the wall who is the most patriotic of them all?” going on in Albania. Unification with Kosova, possports for all ethnic Albanians, the Cham resolution, the Greek threat, the list of issues taken and discussed by a variety of political actors, new and old alike, seems to be long.
For the first time since Albania started dabbing in pluralism, political actors which are eventually followed by national media seem to carry out an electoral debate in nationalistic terms. The proportions of nationalism in public discourse has become such that international actors seem baffled at best while expressing their worry and criticism about this new path taken by certain Albanian politicians.
Does this really reflect the citizens’ agenda on the ground? Is this really what concerns Albanians now, in 2013, in the midst of an European economic crisis, in the midst of an aggressive internal party polarization climate, in the frozen tracks of the process of integration? The Albanian Institute of International Studies (AIIS) had an academic doubt. Albanian citizens, 1,200 of them to be exact, gave us an answer which we would like to share with you: It’s really not!
So what is it? In the famous words of the U.S. 1992 presidential election campaign: It’s the economy stupid!
The largest problem that Albanians face today is the economic crisis. This is how 33 percent of Albanians see it. The next problem on the list I lack of law implementation mentioned by half the size of the first group, 15 percent. The biggest problem for them on a strictly personal level is insufficient economic revenue and low standards of living, they believe their public services are at best average and for most of the cases provide low quality.
They think that the economy is on the wrong track and a large share does not expect any amelioration in the near future. The percentage of those who believe that economy is a in a poor or even very poor shape exceeds 65 percent. A third of the sample expects stagnation. A third of all the sample lives in bad or very bad living conditions.
Hence they would like for the new parliament and the new government to have the following top priorities: opening new job places, economic development, fight against poverty and improvement of public services. Employment seems to be the ringing bell here as a perceived way out of poverty and into better living standards. One could argue even into being able to by private services since the public ones fare so low.
See a trend? Missing nationalistic grand causes. Only 2.2 percent believe that the parliament should have unification with Kosovo as a priority. Only 1.8 percent think that solving the Cham issue should be on the priority list. Only 1.8 percent of Albanians expect the government to protect the right of Albanians living in neighboring countries such as Macedonia or Montenegro. For a national survey with a margin of error +/- 2 percent these are called statistically insignificant groups. That tells the story on its own.
On the positive note, Albanians seem decided to make their voice heard hence we can anticipate high turnout in elections. More than 70 percent will go vote even if 42 percent expect the elections not met the standard for free and fair. They will try anyways.
While being on the issue of elections, the extreme level of distrust in the CEC that the citizens display is particularly disturbing. The legacy of the previous CEC with its live streamed fights and procedure breaches has done so much damage to the reputation of this institution. It seems this year will have nothing new to change their negative opinion.
Alba Cela a Tirana Times contributor and a senior researcher at the Albanian Institute for International Studies. She co-authored of the latest AIIS national survey report “The state of democracy at the Eve of General Elections 2013.”
