Ambassadors urge justice in last election process

TIRANA, July 22 – Four weeks after the June 28 parliamentary election Albanians and the world still do not formally know who is the winner, the loser, or the division of the 140 seats in the parliament and the like.
Albania’s Central Elections Commission ended its judgment after considering complaints from political parties before the final allocation of seats can be made in the 140-seat parliament.
According to preliminary results, conservative Prime Minister Sali Berisha has won 70 seats, the opposition Socialist 66 and the small Socialist Movement for Integration party four seats.
But now it is the Electoral College that is to decide on the complaints from political parties, basically those of the opposition. That process may likely take this week or more and only after that will the CEC do the final calculation and allocate the seats to each political party.
In their last act of trying to help Albania’s democracy, the EU Presidency, the Head of the Delegation of European Commission in Tirana, the German, British and US Ambassadors called on the Electoral College to signal their continued support for and interest in a credible electoral process.
“These elections are an important test of Albania’s democratic maturity and readiness to move forward towards closer integration with the EU,” said a statement.
The international community continues to follow the election process closely.
The final assessment of the 28 June elections will depend to a significant extent on the handling of the complaints and appeals process. With a view to earlier interference in the vote counting process by political parties and pressure on the electoral administration, the diplomatic representatives stressed the importance of the role of the Electoral College and an independent judicial process.
The diplomatic representatives urge the electoral administration and political parties to work constructively for the successful conclusion of this electoral process, leading to the formation of a legitimate Government.
Some 500 international election observers have been monitoring Albania’s election process, considered an important test for the tiny Balkan country’s progress of democracy.
International observers of an international observer mission headed by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights have said that political interference had delayed the vote count of last month’s general election in Albania.
In their first reaction after the June 28 election, the observers reported some improvement but cited a need for further progress to comply with international standards including an end to widespread family voting and the polarized political climate.
Berisha’s Democrats and the SMI of Ilir Meta have already promised to form a coalition and to advance Albania’s goal of European Union membership as a priority.
But opposition Socialists accuse the governing party of interfering with a recount in an effort to win more seats in parliament and threatening not to recognize the final result. They have also threatened with street protests.
The election dispute comes as Albania is seeking to improve its election standards and to gain eventual EU membership. Albania, which joined NATO in April, has been under intense international pressure to ensure the seventh post-communist vote was free of the kind of fraud that marred the first six elections held after the Balkan country’s communist regime fell in 1990.