Time for change
TIRANA, March 1 – The Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS) organized on March 1st a roundtable with civil society participants about discussing the potential ways to depoliticize and reform the Albanian elections administration. Recognizing that Albanian elections have been the crux of political conflict for the past two decades, AIIS supported by the United States Embassy is undertaking a project that will combine research, expert discussions and advocacy to present a set of recommendations about improving the work and the image of the election administration actors by considering different models for its composition and functioning.
The participants were well known experts of elections, election observation and analysis, former and current Central Election Committee (EC) Heads and members as well as MPs engaged in the Commission of the Electoral reform, CSO leaders and experts and important members of the International Community such as USA Ambassador Alexander Arvizu, Danish Ambassador Karsten Jensen and Italian Deputy Ambassador Giuseppe Berlendi.
In his opening remarks, Albert Rakipi, Executive Director of the AIIS pinpointed the current problems that plague the electoral process administration in Albania: the constant state of conflict among political parties and the concept of the zero sum game. He identified two important points, on which there is a need to focus while reforming the electoral administration process: the willingness of the political parties to reform the current system and the changes necessary in the institutions, procedures, and people involved in the process of elections administration. Most importantly Rakipi underlined that elections must not be considered as solely the property of the political parties, saying that “When an electoral process is deformed, said the whole society is damaged.”
The first presentation was done by Ilirjan Celibashi, Director of the Election to Conduct agency, and former head of the Central Election Committee, who emphasized the direct causal relation there is between the electoral administration and election standards.
He then provided a general overview of the record of the electoral administration from 1998- 2012. According to Celibashi, the composition of the Central Elections Committee has reflected on the different elections in Albania and has been reflected in the respective OSCE/ ODHIR evaluations. Celibashi stated that for the time that the CEC was not entirely made up of political nominated figures, the reports have been more positive than those that followed after the CEC changed.
“In 2011, -said Celibashi, -OSCE stated in its report that political presence in the Central Election Committee diminished the ability of this institution to take arbitrary decisions on crucial matters.” He also discussed the sensitive and important topic of public trust in the institution of the CEC. In Celibashi’s opinion, the model of shaping the CEC based on political parties nomination is a failed one and needs to be replaced. According to him, it would be na to think that the political parties will give up their influence on the main institution responsible for the electoral process but still a mixed model could be feasible when responsibility is shared between political and nonpolitical appointees. In his concluding remarks, Celibashi provided his recommendation of vesting all the responsibilities of election administration at the final stage to a single person, a potential High Commissioner for Elections. This figure would be accepted by all sides and would be ultimately accountable for problems related to the electoral process.
Kristaq Kume, from Albanian Institute for Election System Development, had a firm position of detaching political parties as much as possible from the elections administration process as the key to improvement. He then provided the examples of Tunisia and Central Africa, and their successful election administration process, emphasizing the idea that there is no lack of successful models, but a lack of willingness to adopt them. Kume put forward on the table a proposition which was made by him to the parliamentary commission dealing with the electoral reform and according to which, the electoral administration must be shaped by the independence principle. Kume’s proposition to the commission included the creation of a Central Independent Authority, with seven members, three of them coming from the judiciary and the other four from the apolitical entities such as media, academia or civil society. This Central Authority must be nominated by the parliament, which also decides on its Chair and Vice Chair. The authority must be a permanent institution with its members enjoying a 9 year mandate. In addition, the proposition requires the creation of Central Regional Authorities, either at the regional level or at the level of separate electoral areas, with four members, at least two of them lawyers. In this model, political parties get only an observant status in the process.
Alba Cela, from the Albanian Institute for International Studies, emphasized the fact that by de-politicization is in the establishment of the spirit and not the mere changing of the actors. Reflecting on the polarization of the society and the close link between personal interest and politics, Cela said that often changing the actors will not solve the problem. Then she presented some models being used in other European countries with the intention to consider some elements as potentially helpful to be incorporated in the new model of administration. Cela focused on the German, Spanish , Macedonian and Serbian models of election administration pointing out the models’ reliance on the citizens and experts rather then solely on political parties.
Premto Gogo, from KRIIK Albania and also member of the Coalition of Local Observers, the largest entity that monitors the elections using domestic observers, also put forward a proposition on the possible composition of the electoral administration. He identified the improvement of public opinion trust in the electoral institutions as a key priority through exerting constant pressure from the civil society.
Gogo discussed a central issue, that of conflict of interest which according to him is the major fallacy of the system so far. Gogo said that the voters interests are not protected by the electoral administration. “While the political parties fight hard to protect their own political interest,- he said, “the interests of the voters are simply left unattended.”
According to Gogo’s proposition, political parties should completely detached from electoral administration at the 2nd or 3rd level, having only observant. They must be replaced by other apolitical actors such teachers, lawyers, civil society members etc. However, Gogo said that this should be at the same time accompanied with measures to protect these new actors from political pressure ensuring fixed time for their serving mandates. Furthermore, Gogo said than in order for this proposition to be implemented successfully, there should be an increase in the number of voting centers to respect the legal obligation of having no more than 100 voters for center. He suggested that if there is a separate center for every 700-800 voters, then it can be attended by three commissioners and there will be enough space for observers.
Other participants also provided their opinions or commented on the matter of electoral administration reform.
Briseida Mema, from the AFP, said that prior to the implementation of different models, we should detach ourselves from the culture of prejudice and unjustified skepticism. According to Mema, this will follow the successful implementation of the laws on electoral administration.
Meanwhile, Clirim Gjata, former CEC head, noted that from 1998, almost 6 electoral reforms have been adopted after each election. Although he considered the current media reporting on the works of the commission on electoral reform as a positive improvement on transparency, he still stated that most of the detailed work of the commission is not accessible to public opinion. Gjata, considered that the source of the problem is indeed the fact that the same people devising the reform are the ones who have to implement it. Gjata evaluated the latest proposition of setting stricter penalties and enforcing the electoral crime notion. “Electoral crime’- the breaking of the law by the commissioners is a consequence and not the source of the problems”- Gjata said. “If we fail to deal with the real cause of problems, we will not able to fully properly reform once and for all the electoral processes.” The commissioners, argued Gjata, are now between the fear of the law on one side, and political immunity and protection on the other. The removal of such protection is according to Gjata the key to having a successful reform.
Gjata presented concrete steps to improve the administration and appealing process, such as the lessening of competencies for the Central Election Committee and strengthening those of Zonal Commissions. He was in favor of placing all appealing authority on courts of the first instance and discarding the Electoral College.
Damian Gjiknuri (SP), co-chair of the current Parliamentary Commission working on the Electoral Reform stated that the main reason why there is the need for such a reform is the fact that “the very institutions responsible for implementing the laws were the ones who broke them.” Gjiknuri stated that there are indeed different successful models which could be implemented, and which would guarantee a depoliticized presence at the main institutions of the electoral administration. However Gjiknuri said that Albanian is in state of high polarization and although permanent independent administration is very positive it is hard to come by in such conditions. Gjiknuri’s main concern was the right to have access to information and document pertinent to the electoral process. He mentioned cases when the opposition was denied access to documents at the CEC saying tat without aces to documents it is impossible to take any issue to the court, which hampers the appealing process significantly.
Gjiknuri confirmed that the commission is attempting to come out with a solution so as to guarantee that the people on the 2nd and 3rd levels of electoral administration only perform standard operations and are not left with the capabilities to take important decisions themselves. Gjiknuri put his emphasis on the role of the current executive in shaping the nature of the reform. Gjiknuri said that an executive which displays high predisposition to centralize power sets an unfavorable environment for the reform.
Jeta Katro, from Millennium Women Development, expressed her concern on the issue of gender considerations in the electoral administration. She said that despite all the efforts of the civil society and the recommendations from the European Community, 2011 elections did not respect the legally imposed 30% quota for women. Katro advocated firmly for the same quota being implemented rigorously in the election administration composition as well.
Meanwhile, Lutfi Dervishi, from Transparency International Albania, clearly noted that in the midst of such a polarized political environment, finding independent people to administer the electoral process is unlikely. He insisted on more efforts to be done on introducing technology in the area of electoral administration with electronic voting.
Deshira Subashi, currently the vice chair of the Central Election Committee, said that the essence of the problem is the way in which the CEC will function in the future. In the last elections, Subashi said, we saw internal balances being distorted, especially with the notion of qualified majority not being duly adopted. The parliament, according to Subashi, must guarantee the balance of institutions responsible for elections administration. The pyramid of institution’s functioning must be the same from top to bottom, said Subashi. Subashi said that on paper, the CEC is an absolutely independent institution but in practice it has been discredited in front of the public’s eye by its own performance.
Artan Laze, member of the CEC, said that the CEC has performed badly in guaranteeing the proper implementation of the laws related to electoral administration. He blamed this poor performance of the CEC on the lack of willingness for free and fair elections by the current executive.
Albert Rakipi explained that invitations to participate in the event were sent to all members of the Electoral Reform Committee and to the current head of the CEC. He concluded the table by saying that AIIS will use the materials discussed through the event to produce a comprehensive document with policy recommendations and will submit it to the decision makers.
This roundtable grabbed important media attention and was covered in main news editions as a welcomed step from civil society that thus kicks off the debate about one of the most important debates in the context of the ongoing Electoral reform.
