OSCE/ODIHR urge Albanian political parties speed up polls preparations

TIRANA, Jan. 19 – A report by the European election observers urged Albanian political parties to speed up preparations for next month’s local polls in order to ensure a good process. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Warsaw-based Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has sent the first group of 22 observers, out of a total of 430 monitors, who reported on Albanian electoral progress in the first two weeks of January. “There remains sufficient time for the adequate preparation of the elections if there is the will on the part of the political parties,” the report said. The elections, scheduled for Feb. 18, have already been postponed from January, after earlier failure by the two main political groups in Albania to prepare for elections. Last week, however, they spent three days in negotiating their disputes over electoral reform, reaching an agreement Saturday that paves the way for establishing an election infrastructure. The main contest is for the mayor ship of the capital, Tirana, where Mayor Edi Rama competes for his third term against former Interior Minister Sokol Olldashi, who resigned from the ministerial post Thursday. Rama leads the main opposition Socialist Party. The international community has warned Albania that failure to hold free and fair elections on Feb. 18 could harm the country’s plans for establishing closer relations with the European Union and NATO. Since communism ended in Albania in 1990, its elections have consistently fallen short of international standards.