Tirana Times
TIRANA, April 6 – The Commission of the EU Stabilization and Association today urged political parties in Albania to hold local elections of May 8th according to international standards and to continue the dialogue.
During the second meeting held in Brussels this week the Commission of Stabilization and Association underlined that the necessary changes in the code based on the recommendations of the OSCE should be made immediately after the electoral process.
Albania was represented by Integration Minister Majlinda Bregu, while their European counterparts by the Director for Western Balkans at the Directorate of Enlargement of the European Commission, Pierre Mirel. Enlargement commissioner’s spokeswoman Natasa Buttler also made a strong warning Wednesday saying that the voters lists and the IDs also make an improtnat part of the visa liberalization procedures and if they have problems that could turn into problems for the visa liberalization.
Washington and Brussels have both two experts at the Central Election Commission to follow the electoral procedure.
Political parties in Albania have begun campaigning for the May 8th local elections with rallies all around the country. Unfortunately there have been some violent incidents that have raised serious concern on the tense political situation.
Europe has made it clear that the political stalemate has blocked Albania’s path towards European Union and it must be resolved soon.
“The political stalemate constitutes a serious obstacle to the fulfillment of the political criteria and it is holding back important reforms,” Fuele said after the meeting with Albania’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha in Tirana last week. He warned that “if no solution is found, the (European) Commission will not be able to make a positive assessment for Albania in our next progress report.”
Albania has been mired in political crisis since disputed elections in June 2009, the longest the Balkan country has seen in its post-communist democracy.
The opposition has claimed irregularities on Berisha’s victory at the 2009 parliamentary polls, accusing him of committing fraud. Consequently their actions and the lack of a compromise have blocked legislation and reforms in the parliament.
Berisha in turn has accused opposition leader and mayor of Tirana Edi Rama of having tried to use a January 21 rally to launch a coup, a charge Rama has dismissed. Four people were killed at the rally. Europe and the United States encourage both sides to promote a constructive dialogue and to improve the functioning of parliament.
The May 8 local elections are seen by the international officials as a test of Albania’s maturity for progress towards European Union integration. Ever since the fall of the communist regime in the early 1990s, elections in Albania have been marred by fraud or hotly disputed.
