TIRANA, Jan. 9 – Albania’s junior coalition ally, the Socialist Movement for Integration has reintroduced its proposal for the introduction of an open list proportional representation for the next parliamentary elections.
The Socialist Movement for Integration argues that voters must have an influence on the order in which a party’s candidates are elected.
The proposal was submitted to the Ad-Hoc Committee for Electoral Reform.
“Open lists provide a direct link between representatives and voters and also limits the discretionary power of parties and their chairmen,” the SMI proposal reads.
The chairman of the Socialist Movement for Integration Parliamentary Group Petrit Vasili said this week that political parties must also provide more financial transparency and that “declaration of expenses is an obligation for all.”
Recent audits conducted by the country’s Central Election Commission have revealed many cases when political parties have made false declarations of expenses and financing and other instances when parties have failed to return budget funds. Vasili argues that the CEC should ban political parties for registering in the upcoming elections as well as introduce tough fines and penalties.
The Socialist Movement for Integration also suggests that vote rigging must be considered a crime, since the phenomenon has been widely noted during previous elections.
“Vote-rigging must be considered as a crime, not as a Penal Offense as it has been so far,” the amendment read.
Furthermore, according to the Socialist Movement for Integration, voters list must be drafted at every voting center and must include the lists of all voters who are resident at that center since the date of the President’s decree for the election’s date. This, would make voters transfer to other areas and districts impossible.
In addition, the SMI calls for increasing the number of ballot counting centers to accelerate the counting process, since “any prolongation would cause more insecurity and loss of public trust in the process.”
The junior coalition ally suggests that the Central Election Commission must not be the first body to examine and review electoral complaints, so that political parties can issue their appeals directly at the Electoral College.
