OSCE urges political parties be financially transparent for elections

TIRANA, May 12 – OSCE Ambassador Robert Bosch held a speech this week urging Albanian political parties be transparent in their funding resources, and that should be made on time ahead of the local elections next year.
He said it openly that being transparent has never been a priority for any political party in the country. “No political party can currently claim the higher moral ground on this issue.”
It was part of a Transparency International conference in Tirana. All regional bureau officials took part at the four-day conference.
Albania Prime Minister Sali Berisha also used the event to make a presentation of the government’s steps in the fight against corruption.
But that was also used by other international officials to make calls on Albanian politics.
The degree of public information on the size and structure of the budget of political parties is entirely insufficient, he said.
It is fundamentally important for all Albanians to know the sources by which parties fund themselves and how this money is spent. If the Albanian people continue to be denied the ‘right to know’, then the suspicion might well remain that instead of promoting a culture of civic participation, political support is simply bought by the highest bidder, according to the OSCE
The OSCE ambassador said that the quality of independent political auditing in this country remains well below par in terms of its evident superficiality and lack of transparency.
“This reform should take place as part of a wider electoral reform package and, with less than one year away from anticipated local government elections, such a process should start without further delay,” said Bosch.