Albania: The electoral reform deadline is over
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Despite the request of the European Commission for closing the electoral and parliamentary reforms before May 24th, this deadline was closed without compromises, keeping unclosed the electoral reform, one of the main conditions for Albania to receive the candidate status within this year.

PM Berisha mentioned this topic at the government meeting and invited the opposition to conclude the Electoral Code as soon as possible. The same invitation comes from the opposition too, but the divisions remain high.

 Since with the fulfillment of the ODIHR recommendation for not implementing the electronic voting in the 2013 elections, for which PM Berisha said that it will be undisputable for any of the parties, this can be overcome as an obstacle, but a main division is the ability to open the boxes and retrieve the evidence.

“Every material must be opened, but only from the court. We agree on this, but if this decision will be given to two party representatives, the elections do not belong to the citizens anymore, but to the representatives of any party. I have no prejudice here. We can open every single box and bring the elections to failure, and endless and incomplete process. But who would want this”, Berisha declared.

“On the recent days, Berisha is bringing other pretenses regarding the right of the two members to have their request be an obligatory order for retrieving the evidence. This right is at the present code, but it was asked to reinforce it in the electoral reform commission. We are talking about the election documentation, and it is no secret that Berisha definitively doesn’t want this. He wants an incomplete and non-transparent process”, declared Damian Gjiknuri from the Socialist Party.

A problem remains the new composition of  the Central Election Commission, an institution that according to the Socialist Party the majority is trying to keep under control, by not accepting the variant given by the opposition or by not reacting for a new formulation made by the Socialists.

The parties are divided on who is blocking the electoral and parliamentary reform, which is still unconcluded.

“Berisha wanted to mix this with the presidential election process, so that he can use it as an instrument in favor of this process. If there is will, we can work in these days and negotiate the remaining issues, but if the reform will be used as an instrument for presidential elections, this will mean throwing this priority away and mixing it with the only priority of this government: occupying as more institutions as possible and play with Albania’s European fate”, Gjiknuri argued.

“By appreciating the work that has been achieved so far, I don’t think that boycott is what the Albanians need. We must fulfill the reforms that have been asked, as a testimony of our will in front of the Albanians, our friends and partners, for making the obligations that derive from Albania’s EU integration concrete”, Berisha declared.

Now that both issues are mixed with the presidential election, as the European Commission did not want, it is clear that there will be no compromise.

There is time for closing the electoral reform, but the biggest question is if this time will affect the status in this year.

The deadline was burned, regardless the appeal that was made yesterday by the OSCE ambassador, Eugen Wollfarth, for a quick conclusion of the electoral reform.