Honouring of obligations and commitments by Albania

OPINION(1)

Doc. 7738
23 January 1997

Rapporteur: Rene VAN DER LINDEN, Netherlands, Group of the European People's Party
Vice-Chairman of the Political Affairs Committee, for the late Lord FINSBERG, United Kingdom, Group of the European People's Party)

I. Introduction(2)

1.Since the elections in March and April 1991 Albania has made progress in the construction of a democratic political system, protection of human rights and rights of minorities, in ensuring the rule of law and in the introduction of a viable market economy. This progress is remarkable given the state in which Albania was after 40 years of communist regime.

2.Albania became a member of the Council of Europe on 13 July 1995. It assumed a number of obligations, concerning in particular the signature and ratification of several Council of Europe conventions. The honouring of these obligations is dealt with in the report of the Committee on legal Affairs and Human Rights [Doc. 7716 Provisional].

3.Albania is also under obligation to co-operate fully in Assembly's monitoring process, as well as in the monitoring process established by the Committee of Ministers.(3)

4.Since the elections of May 1996, the opposition is refusing to co-operate in the newly elected Parliament. Following various Assembly initiatives, the opposition took part in the local elections of October 1996, but continued to boycott the Parliament.

II. Parliamentary elections in May 1996

5.The elections of May 1996 were the third elections in Albania since the fall of the communist regime. While both previous elections were observed by a delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly, no observers were sent for the elections in May 1996, as Albania was already a member of the Council of Europe.

6.According to the reports from the observers present in Albania, there were problems during the pre-electoral period, in particular with regard to the freedom of the media and the freedom of assembly. The elections themselves were marred by violence, culminating in excessive use of force by the police during the opposition rally in Tirana on 28 of May 1996.

7.Although numerous irregularities were observed on the polling day, the validity of the outcome could not be questioned, according to the report of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

8.A majority of opposition representatives withdrew from the electoral committees in the afternoon of the polling day. The opposition also decided to boycott the second round of elections on 2 June and a partial re-run of elections in 17 constituencies on 16 June, ordered by President Berisha. The Socialist Party is still refusing to take part in the Parliament, in which it won 10 seats out of 140.

9.The Parliamentary Assembly, during its June 1996 part-session, organised a hearing with participation of all major Albanian political parties and adopted a resolution(4) calling for a round table between Albanian political parties with a view to changing legislation in accordance with the OSCE recommendations and the commitments entered into upon accession to the Council of Europe. The Assembly also instructed the Bureau to send a delegation to Albania and to observe the forthcoming local elections, possibly in co-operation with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (CLRAE).

10.A delegation of the Assembly, led by Lord Finsberg, visited Albania from 27 to 30 August 1996. It met with President Berisha, Prime Minister Meksi and other members of his Government, members of the Constitutional Court, Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission and representatives of all major political parties. The delegation's report(5) set out a number of recommendations, including a proposal for setting up a round table convened by President Berisha with a view to prepare for local elections and a new constitution. With regard to the local elections, the report recommended that vice-chairmen of electoral commissions at all levels should be appointed by the opposition.

11.The Albanian authorities reacted positively to this recommendations and on 12 September 1996 adopted amendments to the law on local elections and to the law on public meetings. These changes had been previously discussed at the round table with representatives of opposition parties. The Socialist Party agreed to take part in the round table but continued to boycott the Parliament.

III. Local elections in October 1996

12.The local elections were observed by the Assembly in liaison with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. The conduct of the elections on both polling days has been satisfactory. A joint report by the Assembly and the CLRAE(6) stated that the elections had been sufficiently free and fair. A number of irregularities were sufficiently serious to warrant careful examination by the Central Electoral Commission.

13.On the invitation by the President of the Albanian parliament, the Assembly also co-ordinated international monitoring, together with the Central Electoral Commission. For this purpose the Clerk of the Assembly set up a secretarial team which was present in Albania well before the elections. A number of preparatory visits has also been made and the Bureau has asked two former Presidents of the Assembly, MM Louis Jung and Karl Ahrens, to act as advisers.

14.The Joint delegation, led by Victor Ruffy (Switzerland, SOC), expressed its regret with regard to a withdrawal of the OSCE observers, which followed a dispute between the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Albanian authorities, concerning the number of observers ODIHR was authorised to deploy.

15.The decision to leave to the opposition the right to appoint vice-chairmen of electoral commissions proved to be instrumental in ensuring the proper conduct of these elections, which were clearly an improvement compared to the parliamentary elections in May 1996.

16.The joint report contains a set of recommendations to improve the electoral process. It also calls upon parties to continue with the political dialogue and co-operate on legislative reform including the preparation of a new constitution.

17.The Bureau referred this report to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, to the Political Affairs Committee and to the Committee on relations with European Non-member Countries, in the framework of the monitoring procedure.

IV. Conclusions

18.The controversies surrounding the general elections in May 1996 have provoked a deep mistrust between the Government and opposition parties and brought the political dialogue in the country to a virtual standstill.

19.The boycott of the Parliament by the opposition parties regrettably continues still today. It seems however, that there are political forces within the opposition and in particular among younger members of the Socialist party, which are calling for a more co-operative attitude and are in favour of dialogue with the Government. This position has a clear support from their fellow socialist parties in Europe and should also be encouraged by the Assembly.

20.However, for the time being, the official position of the Socialist Party remains unchanged. All efforts should be made to bring the boycott of the Parliament to an end, in particular with a view to the preparation of a new constitution and the fact that in spring 1997 the Parliament is supposed to elect a President of the Republic.

21.The local elections of October 1996 were carried out in a more satisfactory way than the previous general ones, also thanks to the assistance the Assembly provided in the preparation of the elections and in co-ordination of the international monitoring.

22.Although the participation of the opposition in the local elections did not stop their boycott of the Parliament, the success of these elections may help to provide solutions to end the political crises in the country.

23.The opposition should take up its seats in the Albanian Parliament. The Government, on its side, should provide sufficient guarantees for normal functioning of the opposition political parties, in particular as it concerns their financing, freedom of expression, especially an equal access to broadcasting as well as abolition or significant reform of the "decommunisation" laws.

24.A parliamentary commission should be set up to begin the work on a new constitution. It should be composed of representatives of the Government parties and the opposition, proportional to the results of the local election in October 1996. The vice-chairman of the commission should be appointed by the opposition. It should work in close co-operation with the Council of Europe.

25.The round table which paved the way for the local elections should continue to meet and should re-unite all political parties which won 1% or more at the general elections in May 1996. Proper co-operation should be established between the round table and the parliamentary constitutional commission.

26.A new constitution would provide a ground for new parliamentary elections. Befor these elections, electoral laws should be amended along the lines of the recommendations contained in the Assembly and CLRAE's report on the local elections in October 1996.

27.The Assembly should continue to follow closely the situation and assist Albania until the new elections take place.

Proposed amendments to the draft resolution

A.In paragraph 1 delete the word "considerable".

B.In paragraph 4 delete the words: "...before the Assembly can close the monitoring procedure under Order No508 (1995) on Albania."

C.Replace the text of paragraph 5 with the following:

"The Assembly calls upon the Government and the opposition parties to end the political crisis in the country: