TIRANA, March 22 – The international community has stepped up efforts to assist Albanian officials in providing transparency in party funding during electoral campaign, representatives of three bodies said this week.
Experts from the European Union, OSCE and Council of Europe have drafted a new declaration form for political parties to explain how they obtain electoral campaign funds.
The announcement was made at a roundtable on political party funds held in Tirana.
Experts said that the declaration form can be used without the need of amending the Electoral Code.
In his address, the chairman of the Central Election Commission, Denar Biba, welcomed the initiative and said that corruption in the electoral process hampers election standards.
“We must identify the origins of funds used in the campaign and elections. Albania is a poor country whose electoral campaign expenses are extraordinary,” Biba said.
The co-chairman of the Ad-Hoc Commission for the Electoral Reform, Socialist Party MP Taulant Balla, said that the ruling majority supports the introduction of the form in an attempt to toughen criteria for self-declaration of party funds.
“We need to institutionalize changes to the Criminal Code and introduce tougher penalties against electoral crimes such as taking pictures of the ballot paper and other offences,” Balla said.
The declaration form recommended by experts of the OSCE, European Union and Council of Europe sanctions that private funding of political parties must be done through bank transactions which will also include additional information on the party donor.
