LSI raises serious election concern to US

WASHINGTON, March 26 – Leader of the Albanian opposition Socialist Movement for Integration party and former Prime Minister Ilir Meta sent a formal letter to members of Congress, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Department of Commerce, former U.S. Ambassadors to Albania and active members of the think tank/NGO community to express serious concerns about the Albanian government’s commitment to holding free and fair elections on June 28.
Meta plans to visit Washington, D.C. the week of April 13 to meet with U.S. leaders to ask for U.S. monitoring of the upcoming Albanian elections.
“We have serious concerns about the Albanian government’s commitment to hold free and fair elections in June,” Meta said. “Millions of citizens have yet to receive new voter ID cards, which are required to cast votes in the elections. Albania also continues to fight cases of voter discrimination involving the suppression of minority and women voters,” said the letter according to a statement distributed by Dutko Worldwide that is assisting its pubic relations.
“We are requesting that the U.S. and international NGOs consider taking steps to increase observation, support, and monitoring of Albania’s elections,” continued Meta. “It is critical that these elections be free and fair and consistent with international democratic standards.”
In Albania’s 2005 and 2007 parliamentary elections, monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) determined that polls did not fully comply with international election standards. Last November, 10 lawmakers from several of Albania’s parliamentary parties went on a hunger strike to protest recent changes in the nation’s election laws, including Meta and Christian Democratic Party head Nard Ndoka, claiming they would keep small parties out of parliament.