Head of parliamentary election observation mission returns to Tirana with recommendations for future elections
TIRANA, Nov. 20 – The international elections watchdog group that monitored Albania’s parliamentary election in June has urged the country to reform its its electoral code to make the process better, fairer and more representative.
Conny McCormack, who led the monitoring mission of OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Albania’s recent parliamentary elections, returned to Tirana to present a series of recommendations based on what the mission learned in the June electoral process.
McCormack spoke to key local authorities and political party leaders in meetings during her visit.
“We are looking at ways to work together to identify priority needs so the electoral process is even better in future elections,” McCormack said.
Albania’s last parliamentary elections were largely seen to be among the best the country has held and gained the stamp of approval by domestic and international observers.
OSCE/ODIHR has monitored Albania’s 11 last elections and has made a series of recommendations in its final reports.
The international team of observers said Albania’s elections were competitive with active citizen participation throughout the campaign and genuine respect for fundamental freedoms.
It added the electoral code was extensively amended in July 2012, which improved the electoral framework overall. These changes addressed a number of previous recommendations of the OSCE/ODIHR and the Council of Europe’s Commission for Democracy through Law (better known as the Venice Commission).
The report underlined the technical preparations for the elections were adequate, despite some noted shortcomings, in particular in not meeting a number of legal deadlines. .
McCormack said that this was the first follow-up visit to Albania, but others would follow, pledging to hold continuous meetings with the political actors in Albania to improve the electoral process.
