Tirana Times
TIRANA, May 5 – Formally some 3.2 million Albanians are eligible to vote for the May 8 local elections with about 150,000 voters granted the chance to vote for the first time.
The May 8 local elections are a day of contest for the two opposing political groupings in the country: governing Democratic Party-led coalition of Prime Minister Sali Berisha and the opposition Socialist Party-led coalition of Tirana Mayor Edi Rama.
Berisha heading the “Alliance for citizen” coalition is pledging further successes like those the country has had under his management in the last six years. He pledges better management, especially in the cities that are run from the opposition. The Democrats pledge better roads, schools, infrastructure and services. They offer their example of how they made the country a NATO member or how they successfully lifted the visas for Albanians.
Opposition Socialists, on their side, base their offer on doing things differently from the Democrats, a better governing free of corruption.
Worth noting that fighting corruption was the main issue which brought Berisha and Democrats back to governing in 2005.
The Socialists also say that these votes should give an end to the manipulation of the elections from the Democrats.
They continue to mention daily how the Democrats are trying to manipulate the polls, especially with the voters’ lists. They have made known they have identified several hundred citizens who being recorded or added into the lists outside the time limits defined by law at the local units administered by the Democratic Party.
The Socialists have made it public that they have created specific structures to avoid or prevent manipulation of the vote.
Rama says that, unlike what Berisha claims that the Albanian economy has been the only one that is not affected by the global economic crisis, the pocket of every Albanian is made poorer and there is a one-million person unemployment in the country, urging citizens to vote for the “Alliance for the future” in order to go out from the unemployment and poverty trap in which the government has put the country.
Opposition Socialists have organized group of activists, backed by former interior ministry officials, to be deployed during the May 8 poll to prevent fraud by rival political gangs.
Similar to the 2007 local elections, the party has created a structure made of former officers of the ministry of interior, now relieved of duty, to support and protect the Socialist commissioners during the polls.
They fear threats to the election commissioners, stationed at the polling stations on voting day and tasked with checking identity cards, receiving ballots, and observing the voting process.
The May elections are seen as a key test of Albania’s democratic credentials following a violent anti-government rally on January 21 that left four protestors dead and has since been the source of a heated dispute between the opposition and the ruling party.
Apart from the groups of observers, the Socialists so far have identified Albanian migrants living abroad for every polling station, in order to prevent their vote from appearing fraudulently on ballots.
The main contest is for capital Tirana where Rama runs against former Interior Minister Lulzim Basha. Other main contests are the big cities like Elbasan, Korca, Vlora, Durres which are more a show of the political force rather than on really improving life there.
Women, youth and disabled, minorities – these are some communities that should expect more from the local elections.
Though promising to respect gender equality and political representation, political parties in Albania have neglected calls to include women candidates in the May 8th local elections. In all, only 17 out of the 768 candidates, or 3 percent, are women. This comes three months after political leaders promised to respect the election law, which stipulates that 30 percent of candidates must be women.
The political parties have not transformed gender equality and representation into cultural behavior. Women are considered as unreliable candidates in such an aggressive political environment.
OSCE Ambassador in Tirana Eugen Wollfarth says “Improving the existing gap of gender equality in all governance structures remains a challenge. All national and international partners have a considerable responsibility to help.”
Local candidates must give priority to issues of children in their commitment for the local elections of May 8th, 2011. This is the call that makes to the people the Civil Society, American Embassy, British Embassy and Dutch Embassy in Tirana.In a press statement they said that the number of children in Albania is 929,000 but their voices are rarely heard in the political process, especially during elections.
Unregistered and lacking identity documents, many Roma will not be able to cast ballots on May 8, even if they want to.
Disabled are another community that is lacking the proper attention. They held a hunger strike last month but achieved nothing. Casting their ballots now will likely not change that but still they are a vote.
