Prolonged time for electoral reform commission

TIRANA, Sep 29 – Parliament decided to prolong the mandate of the parliamentary commission in charge of the electoral reform for another month until October 31.
The commission has been created for months since earlier this year after the parliament voted on the constitutional amendments for the voting system into a regional proportional one.
The commission is working for the new electoral code. It is headed by two lawmakers from each of the main political groupings _ the governing Democratic Party and the main opposition socialist Party.
After months the commission members said they could not complete their work until the end of September as there were many details to be agreed upon.
The commission has already passed some 60-70 articles of the new code but much remains to be done before it passes to the parliament to be debated and voted.
There remain some main topics, most of which should be held from the government, like the voters’ list, their IDs and passports, make up of the voting commissions and the like.
Elections in post-communist Albania have always been an issue of dispute and have always been manipulated by the two main political groupings.
Holding free and fair elections next year for the parliament remain a top priority in the country and for its efforts of integration into the international institutions.