Civil society organizations concerned over delays and missed legal deadlines in administrative election preparations
TIRANA, April 8 – Political parties have continued negotiations over coalitions and candidate names in the upcoming June 21 municipal elections.
They are a test for the governing Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama and for the main opposition Democratic Party of Tirana Mayor Lulzim Basha.
They are also another test for the country’s new territorial division, which will see only 61 mayors instead of the 384 municipal heads elected in the past.
The governing Socialists have managed to enlarge their coalition to include not only the traditional Socialist Movement for Integration, or LSI, of Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta, but other smaller parties from both the left and center-right.
The Democrats, on the other hand, have struggled to keep even their closest allies, the Republicans, who are asking to have their man run in Durres, the second largest municipality after Tirana.
As of press time there were still not official candidate named for Tirana by either major party. There has been anger among some political circles that the parties are taking too long to decide and that the leaders are looking for yes-men rather than qualified executives.
The current mayor, Basha, said he won’t seek reelection because he wants to focus on becoming prime minister in the general elections scheduled for two years later.
On Tuesday, a Socialist lawmaker, Ben Blushi, complained that they were not being involved in the preparation of the list of the candidates that was in the hands only of the party leader, Rama.
While the Democrats have also had two blows in terms of potential voters, as two of their former officials have announced they will run as independents.
Civil society organizations have expressed concern about the delays in local election preparations, which, according to them, were a violation of legal deadlines and hurting the citizens’ right to vote.
The Albanian Helsinki Committee has started monitoring the electoral process, and notes that a number of legal deadlines have already been violated for screening and correction of voter lists, zonal election commissions and the public has not been informed about the process, the candidates and the councilors.
The activists said the preparations for these elections have been among the worst so far.
And there appears to be little concern over their observation.
Many international institutions that usually observe and fund the observation of Albanian elections are offering no support this time around, seeing them as minor polls.
However, activists say these polls will affect everyday life for Albanians more than the general elections and are expected to measure the maturity of democracy in Albania before the European Union.
The coalition of local observers has asked the parties to publish the names of the candidates for mayors and city councilors, because the law only requires registration of parties and does not require transparency for individual runners.
Another significant problem, they said, is the discrimination faced by independent candidates, who have to collect many more signatures than a registered party.
Observers are expecting one of the lowest turnout ever in these elections. Only 15 percent of Albanians trust their political class, polls show.
The governing Socialist-led parliamentary majority passed the new law that cut the number of municipalities down to 61 from more than 350, amid opposition in many parts of the country.
The government said the move was necessary along the country’s efforts of integration into the European Union and to save $80 million distributed annually from the central government budget to local officials who offered little or no service to their small municipalities.
However many communities said they want to keep their local municipalities and did not want to be merged with nearby cities.
The new mayor of Tirana will now rule a very large area, including many of the city’s suburbs and other towns and village which once had self-government.
