Not much progress in electoral reform

TIRANA, Feb. 22 – The parliamentary working group continues its job on the electoral reform. It is made up of the two main political parties _ governing Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha and the main opposition Socialist party of Edi Rama.
But there has not been noted much progress in their work.
Moreover during the last days there were heard complaints from the opposition that the governing Democrats were trying to prolong the work until the presidential elections expected this summer.
Albania needs to make a good electoral law, one that would leave no space of manipulation to the political parties.
But unfortunately it is again the political parties that work on such changes and one may easily ask: are they really interested in changing the electoral law?
Albanian voters do not know where they are, or what they have achieved. Smaller political parties continue to insist on changes that would leave space to their running as well. For the moment voters listened to some changes of the penal code that are linked to the voting process.
The legal parliamentary commission is discussing on some penalties for people obstructing political subjects during the election process.
Falsifying election materials or election results will be punished of three to seven years imprisonment. Voting more than once will bring a sentence of three months to a year’s jail.Those found guilty of breaching the secrecy of the vote will be liable to sentences of three months to two years’ imprisonment. These are only proposals, which seem to have a first approval of the lawmakers from both opposing political groupings at the parliament.
Albania has suffered a long and tumultuous transition to democracy since it emerged from the Stalinist regime of Enver Hoxha in 1991. No elections held since the collapse of the regime have met international standards and allegations of fraud and disputed results have been widespread.
The changes are also trying to reflect suggestions made from the OSCE/Odihr observers since the 2009 parliamentary polls. They were not changed with the local or municipal elections last years.
The international community says that though the electoral law may be changed it is important that the process becomes independent of the political pressure.
Some voices say that the existing law is not bad. It suffers from the elaborate manipulation those political parties, usually that in power, makes when applying it.
The opposition Socialists have repeatedly argued that the governing Democrats have manipulated either the voters’ list or the vote counting.
A joint opinion from the Venice Commission and the OSCE on elections in Albania in December concluded that legal reform alone will not ensure that polls meet international standards.
“The recurring problems with the conduct of democratic elections in Albania cannot be resolved merely through changes in electoral legislation,” the report by the independent legal body associated with the Council of Europe said. “Any meaningful improvement in the quality of the electoral process will not be achieved without a change of attitudes and practices by the main political groupings and their leaders,” the report adds.