CoE to report on Albanian election

TIRANA, Aug 18 – The Council of Europe (CoE) will present its evaluation of Albania’s June 28th general election next month.
The document, which will be key to Albania’s EU membership bid, will be presented to the Parliamentary Assembly on September 28th.
June’s general election was monitored by 5,000 observers from the OSCE, NATO’s Parliamentary assembly and the CoE.
The OSCE/ODIHR evaluation report is expected in September as well.
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Deputy Chairman Wolfgang Grossruck said during a visit to Tirana in the second half of August that the June 28th general election was Albania’s best ever. Grossruck met in Tirana with Democratic Party (DP) leader Sali Berisha, and Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) leader Ilir Meta. He also met with opposition Socialist leader Edi Rama.
“We saw a lot of improvement and therefore we can say that they were the best election ever organized in Albania. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of work to be done and more to be achieved. I invite Albanian politicians to collaborate for the good of this country,” Grossruck told Berisha.
Rama disagreed, saying the election was a “deformation of democracy” and Grossruck was speaking personally and not formally on behalf of the OSCE.
Former chairman of Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Rene Van der Linden also made a visit on August 24 in Tirana to thank Prime Minister Berisha for the hospitality and congratulations for the victory in the June 28th parliamentary election, considering it an important and useful victory for the European right and its consolidation.
Berisha stressed that Albania’s membership in the European Union will be the focus of the government and this is a process based on the merits and realization of reforms and standards that the government is committed to meet.