ODIHR criticizes impact of political affiliation on vote counting

TIRANA, March 1 – The International Election Observation Mission issued Thursday the fourth report on monitoring the Albanian electoral process strongly criticizing the fact that many electoral commissioners put political party interests over those of the holding normal elections.
The recent report followed the electoral developments from Feb. 19 – 25 saying it continued its observation of the remaining steps of the electoral process, with a focus on the counting and tabulation, and handling of complaints and appeals. The report said that the vote count proceeded relatively smoothly in the large majority of Local Government Units (LGUs) observed, but in some others it was protracted and contentious. In some LGUs, the count was at times blocked, and there were cases in which not all ballot boxes were counted due to disagreements among election commissioners.
“During the count, officials sometimes appeared to place their respective party interests before the integrity of the process, thereby failing to implement the law as impartial election administrators. This resulted in political disputes and obstruction to the counting process, and subsequently delays were observed during the tabulation of results,” the report said, adding that in a limited number of LGUs, the counting process was marred by violence between supporters of different candidates and parties, as well as members of counting teams. At least one person had to be hospitalized and several others were detained. The announcement of election results on the Central Election Commission (CEC) website was significantly delayed. While this was attributed to software problems, it did not contribute to enhancing transparency. They said that 144 complaints against election results and invalidation requests had been filed with the CEC. The CEC has started considering the majority of these cases. In addition, the General Prosecutor’s Office has reported that 36 election-related criminal charges were filed between 18 and 20 February.
International observers praised police for playing a positive role during the voting and counting process, and performing their duties in a professional manner and in line with the law.
While the count was reasonably well organized in most counting centers observed, the late appointment of counting team members appears to have resulted in insufficient training of commissioners, and so leading to mistakes being made during the count itself. Although the majority of counting teams attempted to carry out their duties in a professional manner, observation reports received by the evening of 19 February rated the count as ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’ in 23 per cent of observation reports submitted. Only a few LGECs were able to complete the vote count, tabulate the results and submit them to the CEC within the legal deadline of 17:00 on 19 February. The role played by political parties in some LGUs, after election day, was less than constructive. In many counting centers, observers also noted a higher number of party observers than foreseen by the Electoral Code. In addition, the presence of MPs from both sides in some ‘problematic’ counting centers contributed to rising tensions and a more contentious atmosphere. In 19 per cent of counting centers visited, disagreements over the validity of ballots were noted. Disputes among counting team or LGEC members, or between counting teams and LGECs, led to disturbances and stoppages during the count. In several counting centers, the count was blocked as commissioners representing various political interests walked out. In 38 per cent of counts observed, the presence of unauthorized persons was noted, and in around one third of these cases, they were unduly interfering in the process. Observers noted in 19 per cent of their reports that unauthorized persons or party observers were trying to unduly influence counting teams or LGECs. In a limited number of LGUs, observers reported significant problems. There, the decision making process was blocked by the counting team or the LGEC. In some cases, the CEC had to send regional inspectors or trainers to help LGECs resolve problems with the vote count or the tabulation of results.
The OSCE/ODIHR EOM will continue to follow the handling of complaints and appeals by the CEC and the Electoral College.