Polls funding set, smaller parties unhappy with amount
TIRANA, Jan. 15 – The two opposing political groupings are continuing work at a slow pace at the Central Election Commission, continuing a long political fight over how to divide the electoral zones.
Meanwhile the CEC also set some 200 million leks for seven political parties and 123 million leks for the holding of the parliamentary polls of June 23. That money did not cover the amount for the two new methods to be applied in Tirana with the checkup of the identity cards and the vote digital count in Fier.
As always, some smaller parties were not happy as they didn’t get any public funds, as was the case of the New Democratic Spirit of former president Bamir Topi.
This is an election year for Albania. Though officially it is held only a month ahead the vote, the campaign seems to already be started in November last year – the centenary of the independence Albanians – among festivities in full regalia, and high-sounding promises from the usual two conflicting political parties.
The country faces in the next election with a series of failures behind among which the most striking is yet another rejection of the status of candidate country to the EU. There remains in any case the usual ideological chaos, of a left and a right side that are not distinguished from one another by difference of electoral programs.
The only difference, which may not be that leftist or rightist, is that the Democratic Party government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha continues to insist for the flat 10 percent tax and lowering taxes, while the leftist Socialist opposition claims higher taxes for higher paid employees.
