Political parties get funding for the electoral campaign

TIRANA, May 25 – The Albanian government will fund the parliamentary political parties with 65 million leks (500,000 Euros) ahead of the June 28 parliamentary elections.
The two largest parties in parliament, the governing Democrats of Prime Minister Sali Berisha and the Socialists of Tirana Mayor Edi Rama will receive the lion’s share, but smaller parties will also benefit.
The Republican Party, PR, and the Social Democrats, PSD, that have garnered between one and two per cent support in all the recent pre-election polls, will be awarded nearly 15 million lek (120,000 Euros).
The funding of the electoral campaigns has never been transparent in the country. Many businesses offer their funding but do not disclose the amounts.
Democrats and Socialists alike had been accused of corruption and of abusing tactical voting under the previous electoral system to boost the number of seats won by their small-party allies, such as the PSD and the PR, in order to produce stronger coalitions.
The system was much criticized for leading to the phenomenon locally nicknamed the “Mega-Dushku” effect. This refers to a village of some 10,000 people in south-central Albania that elected nine deputies in the 2001 parliamentary elections and emerged as a symbol of the system’s shortcomings.
The system routinely backfired and led to instability, as small parties bargained for favors, slowed the pace of reforms, or switched allegiance.
In late December the Democrats and the Socialists voted in a new electoral code that changed the voting system eliminating the scheme. Now the country votes in a regional proportional system, just for the parties and not directly for their candidates.