TIRANA, Sept. 21 – All major political forces in Albania agree that electoral reform is necessary – but they disagree on what its priorities should be.
Chairman of the Democratic Party Lulzim Basha, said the electoral reform must return power to the people.
“We are open to the model, but it has to fulfill three conditions: First, electronic voting and counting of votes; second, lower role for political leaders; and third, give more power to citizens to decide their representation in Parliament and in all other decision-making bodies,” Basha said.
He added the electoral reform must end election rigging.
The Socialist Party also immediately expressed readiness to launch electoral reform next week.
“We are ready to sit with the opposition on electoral reform next week in parliament without setting any conditions. If there were to be conditions, the only one could be to guarantee the emigrants’ vote,” said Taulant Balla, chairman of the Socialist Party’s parliamentary group.
Despite the protests and the exchange of accusations of manipulation of elections and links with the world of crime, the government and the opposition are trying in various ways to establish a dialogue and cooperation on some important reforms, from that judicial system to the latest reform proposal of the electoral system.
However, Basha has repeatedly said his May 18 political agreement to cooperate on a series of issues with Rama, including reforms, “is dead.”
Some of the Democratic Party’s previous requests related to introducing electronic voting and ballot counting.
DP has also proposed going back to a pure majoritarian voting system and the country’s division into 100 electoral administration zones that will produce 100 lawmakers in the Albanian parliament, down from the current 140.
The Socialists on the other hand want to make sure to give Albanians living abroad to vote where they live. Nearly half of Albania’s eligible voters now live abroad.
Albania’s third largest party, the opposition Socialist Movement for Integration, said through its Parliamentary Group Chairman, Petrit Vasili, that the country needed a comprehensive electoral reform, whose main condition should be guaranteeing an electoral system that preserves the equality of votes.
He said that the electoral reform must not be the result of an SP-DP backroom deal has it has been done in the past.
