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Doc. 9150
27 June 2001
Ad hoc Committee for the observation of the legislative elections in Albania (24 June 2001)
Report
Bureau of the Assembly
Rapporteur: Ms Jenny Jones, United Kingdom, Socialist Group
1. At the invitation of the Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Albania, Mr Skënder Gjinushi, the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly decided to observe the legislative elections which were held on 24 June 2001. Albania is one of the group of countries for which the procedure on monitoring of the honouring of obligations and commitments is underway. Following a proposal by the political groups, the Bureau established an ad hoc committee composed as follows:
- Mr Jerzy SMORAWINSKI, Poland, EPP/CD
- Ms Jenny JONES, United Kingdom, SOC
- Ms Vera SQUARCIALUPI, Italy, SOC
- Mr Björn von der ESCH, Sweden, EPP/CD
- Mr Guillermo MARTINEZ-CASAN, Spain, EPP/CD
- Mr Lars RISE, Norway, EPP/CD
- Mr Andras SZINYEI, Hungary, EPP/CD
- Ms Irena BELOHORSKA, Slovakia, EDG
- Mr Drazen BUDISA, Croatia, LDR
- Ms Jorunn RINGSTAD, Norway, LDR
- Mr Soeren SOENDERGAARD, Denmark, UEL
Secretariat : Mr John Hartland, Mr Vladimir Dronov, Ms Marine Trévisan, Ms Farida Jamal, Mr Angus Macdonald.
2. From 23 to 25 May 2001, a pre-election mission led by Mr Jerzy Smorawinski went to Albania to assess the state of preparation of the elections, which was considered highly problematic by the international community – see appendix III.
3. At its meeting on 21 June, the ad hoc committee elected Mr Jerzy Smorawinski Chairman of the delegation and Ms Jenny Jones, Rapporteur.
4. The delegation worked closely with the OSCE’s Election Observation Mission of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), headed by Mr Nikolai Vulchanov, the delegation of the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly, chaired by Mr Bruce George and the delegation of the European Parliament, chaired by Ms Doris Pack. A final statement was jointly prepared and presented by Mr George, Mr Smorawinski, Ms Pack and Mr Vulchanov at a press conference on 25 June.
5. The ad hoc committee stayed in Albania from 21 to 25 June 2001. Its programme is reproduced in Appendix I. In addition to observing the elections, the delegation held talks with a number of political leaders and election officials.
6. The delegation members divided into eight teams who observed the elections in Tirana, Durres, Vlora, Gjirokaster, Kavale and Shkodra. Each team visited an average of 15 polling stations, observed the count in one polling station and also visited Zone Election Commissions.
Political background1
7. Since the June 1997 parliamentary elections, Albania has a ruling majority coalition dominated by the Socialist Party (SP) chaired by Mr Fatos Nano. The Union for Democracy, led by the Democratic Party (DP) under Mr Sali Berisha’s chairmanship, is the main opposition force.
8. On 22 November 1998, a new Constitution was approved by referendum, notwithstanding a boycott by the Democratic Party. Although the observers of the international community, including those of the Parliamentary Assembly, concluded that the voting procedures were carried out in a correct manner2, the outcome of the referendum was not recognised by the main opposition party.
9. The local elections, held on 1 and 15 October 2000, were observed by the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE), which concluded that these elections had marked progress, despite some serious problems in the second round3. The opposition parties claim that the local elections, which gave a landslide victory to the governing coalition, were biased and that in particular electoral lists had been manipulated and complaints neglected.
10. The Central Election Commission (CEC) was reconstituted in February last as recommended by the CLRAE after the October elections.
The pre-election period
11. The governing SP broke with its smaller alliance partners to contest the election alone. The opposition DP formed a coalition with four smaller parties to campaign under the banner “Union for Victory”. This includes the Republican Party, the National Front, the Movement for Legality Party and the Albanian Liberal Union. A new development in the Albanian political landscape was the scission, earlier in the year, of the Reform Movement under Genç Pollo from the DP. The “reformed” Democrat Party ran in the elections as an alternative to both the SP and the DP.
12. A total of 28 parties took part in the elections and registered some 2000 candidates.
13. The outcome of these 2001 legislative elections has a decisive impact on who will become Albania’s next President. Under the Constitution, the President is elected by the Assembly with the support of at least three-fifths (60%) of its members.
14. The Constitution establishes a mixed majoritarian and proportional representation system for electing the 140 deputies, with 40 mandates allocated to political party and coalition lists in a single national constituency and 100 mandates to party, coalition and independent candidates in single member constituencies by a majority voting system. Parties and coalition must respectively receive at least 2.5% and 4% of the valid national votes to participate in the allocation of the 40 mandates. The total number of deputies of a party or coalition shall be, to the closest extend as possible, proportional to the valid national votes won by them in the first round (Article 64 of the Constitution). Article 66 of the Electoral Code establishes a formula for this proportional distribution of mandates.
15. A second round is required in each single member constituency where no candidate receives an absolute majority.
16. One of the main issues in the election was this mandate allocation formula and the use of so-called independent candidates. The SP registered 81 candidates in the 100 single member constituencies and endorsed 19 “independent” candidates in the remaining zones. The opposition parties considered this as a ploy to take advantage of the allocation formula in order to improve the SP’s margin of overcoming the 60% threshold for electing the President. In reply, the “Union for Victory” registered 7 candidates under the name of the coalition and “independent” candidates were registered in the 93 remaining zones.
17. Five days before the elections, the CEC adopted a decision according to which a substantial number of the “independent” candidates supported by political parties would be credited to that party. The CEC decision was upheld by the Court of Appeals. Finally, all but five of these “independent” candidates supported by either SP or DP were credited to them.
18. Notwithstanding the attempt by the Albanian authorities with the assistance of the international community, to establish a computerized national voter list, the voter registers still had shortcomings including duplicate or missing records, records assigned to the wrong polling station, records with wrong birth dates and other data entry errors.
19. On the basis of an agreement between political parties, the authorities conducted a wide scale operation to review the preliminary voters list. This initiative was accompanied by an intensive voter education campaign in the media.
20. The campaign was largely conducted in a calm atmosphere with few reports on violence or intimidation.
21. The media coverage of the campaign was organized around a large spectrum of media that gave voters the opportunity to make an informed choice.
Election Day and preliminary assessment
22. The elections were conducted in a calm and orderly manner, except a handful of isolated incidents. The voter turnout was reported around 60%.
23. The main difficulty encountered was a certain number of persons who could not find their names on the voters’ list.
24. Shortcomings in the voting and counting process due to a lack of training and disorganisation were observed.
25. The day after the election, the ad hoc committee held, together with the delegations of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the European Parliament, and OSCE/ODIHR, a press conference at which a joint statement was presented - see Appendix II.
26. It was recognized that the Albanian parliamentary elections marked progress towards meeting international standards. The CEC’s professional and transparent conduct was said to have contributed significantly to the progress noted in these elections. The media coverage provided for a wide diversity of views, thus giving voters the opportunity to make an informed choice
27. International observers made a positive assessment of the conduct of the poll, notwithstanding the attempt to register party affiliates as independent candidates in order to increase the number of compensatory mandates allocated to parties, the lack of training and organization of the polling commissions and shortcomings in the voters list.
28. The international observers stressed that their final assessment on these elections will depend on the tabulation of results of the first round, the conduct of the second round on 8 July, as well as the process of allocating the compensatory mandates and the role which the CEC and the courts play in this process.
29. On 27 June 2001, the preliminary results had not yet been officially announced. However, the CEC published partial results, based on 49 of the 100 constituencies: SP 44,6%, DP 35,4, Democrat Party (Pollo) 5,0%, Social Democratic Party (SDP) 2,9%, Human Rights Party (HRUP) 2,3, Agrarian Party 2,2%, Democratic Alliance (DPA) 2,2%, Christian Democrats (CDU) 1,0and Communists 1,0%. The remaining 2,8 percent on the other 19 parties. It should be stressed that these results are only partial and do not include constituencies from the North, a DP stronghold.
30. A second round is scheduled for 8 July 2001. Although no official figures were yet given, according to certain sources a second round should be held in 40 to 47 constituencies.
APPENDIX I
PROGRAMME OF THE AD HOC COMMITTEE
TO OBSERVE THE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN ALBANIA
21- 25 June 2001
21 June 2001
18.30 Meeting of the ad hoc committee
19.00 Briefing on the pre-election commission
- Statement by Mr Francis COUSIN (Switzerland), Ambassador representing the CE Chair-in-Office
- Statement by Mr Jorgen GRUNNET, Special Representative of the Secretary General in Tirana
Exchange of views
22 June 2001
OSCE-ODIHR briefing for parliamentary delegations
23 June 2001
Meeting with the Chairman of the Central Election Commission
Meeting with political leaders
24 June 2001
Observation of voting and the count
25 June 2001
Resumed meeting of the ad hoc committee
Exchange of views with delegations of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the European Parliament and OSCE-ODIHR Election Observation Mission
Press conference
APPENDIX II
INTERNATIONAL ELECTION OBSERVATION MISSION
For information – not an official document
PRESS RELEASE
Albanian Parliamentary Elections Mark Progress Towards
International Standards
Tirana, 25 June 2001 – Yesterday’s parliamentary elections in Albania marked progress towards meeting international standards for democratic elections, concluded the International Election Observation Mission in a statement issued in Tirana today (attached).
“This election represents another important step towards the consolidation of democracy in Albania”, said Bruce George, Vice-president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and Special Coordinator for these elections designated by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office.
“The Central Election Commission’s professional and transparent conduct contributed significantly to the progress noted in these elections. Their distance from political party disputes was courageous”, said Jerzy Smorawinski, Chairman of the delegation of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly.
“The media assumed an important role in this election campaign and a large spectrum of media gave voters the opportunity to make an informed choice”, added Doris Pack, Head of the European Parliament delegation.
The campaign took place in a generally peaceful atmosphere. A total of 28 parties took part and fielded some 2,000 candidates. The most contentious issue was the attempt to field party affiliates as independent candidates, aiming to increase the number of compensatory mandates allocated to parties. Other shortcomings observed include inaccuracies in the voter lists, and excessive deviations in the number of voters registered in some electoral constituencies.
Election day was largely peaceful, except for a handful of isolated violent incidents. The voting and counting process was relatively positive. However, despite the best effort of polling commissions in most areas, their lack of training and disorganization were evident on election day. Also, disputes among polling and zone commission members and other procedural difficulties will force reruns in one out of 100 constituencies and a limited number of polling centers in others. The voter turnout was reported around 60%.
“The final assessment on whether these elections will bring Albania closer to international standards depends on the tabulation of results for the first round, and the conduct of the second round on 8 July, as well as on the process of allocating the compensatory mandates and the role which the Central Election Commission and the courts play in this process”, concluded Nikolai Vulchanov, Head of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission in Tirana.
Mission Information
The International Election Observation Mission is a joint undertaking of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.
An OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission with 10 election experts in the Tirana headquarters and 18 long-term observers deployed to the regions was established in late May to assess the legal framework, the election administration, the media environment, and conditions for the election campaign. For election day, the International Election Observation Mission has deployed over 270 short-term observers from 30 countries, including 39 from the OSCE PA, 17 from the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly and 7 from the European Parliament, from across the political spectrum. Also, the Organisation International de la Francophonie contributed 14 observers for election day. International observers monitored the voting and counting procedures in polling stations and election commissions across Albania.
For further information, please contact:
• Nikolai Vulchanov, Head of Mission of the EOM in Tirana, +(355 4) 230979, -232523, -232524, -232525
• Jens-Hagen Eschenbächer, OSCE/ODIHR Spokesperson, +48-603 683 122
• Jan Jooren, Press Counsellor, OSCE PA, +45 40304985
• John Hartland or Vladimir Vronov, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, +33 607 427298
• Sabina Mazzi-Zissis, Administrator, European Parliament, +32-496 599 473
APPENDIX III
Press Release : Tirana 25.5.01
COUNCIL OF EUROPE PARLIAMENTARY PRE-ELECTION MISSION GIVES ITS ASSESSMENT
A cross-party group of Council of Europe parliamentarians ends a three-day visit today at the invitation of the Albanian Parliament and the Central Election Commission to assess the political and administrative framework and the state of preparedness of the country for the 24 June parliamentary elections:
Ms Irena Belohorska EDG Slovakia
Mr Drazen Budisa LDR Croatia
Ms Jenny Jones SOC United Kingdom
Mr Jerzy Smorawinski EPP/CD Poland
Mr Soeren Soendergaard UEL Denmark
The group met representatives of the major political forces and the administrative authorities in Tirana, Skodra and Vlora. Exchanges were held with the Central Election Commission at the outset and the conclusion of its visit.
While confident that a great effort has been made to make the election a success, the group is aware of continuing difficulties, notably finalisation of the voter registration list and clarification in time for the election of how the electoral code will be interpreted for the proportional allocation of seats in parliament.
The group is also aware of allegations, reflecting a highly polarized political climate, which if true could cause the integrity of the democratic process to be questioned.
The group urges all voters to check that they are entered accurately on the lists. The means are available for them to do this.
The group expects the appropriate authorities to ensure that the principles of interpretation of Article 66 of the Electoral Code will be clarified well in advance of the election.
Considering that the main source of continuing difficulties and delays has been the lack of cooperation between the major political forces, the group calls on all the political parties in Albania to cooperate fully in the election process.
The Council of Europe will send a 24 member parliamentary delegation to Albania to observe the elections on 24 June, in the framework of the International Election Observation Mission being established by the OSCE and its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. The group has already reported its impressions and concerns to the Central Election Commission of Albania.
1 See AS/Mon (2001) 07, minute by co-rapporteur for the Monitoring Committee Jerzy Smorawinski on his visit to Albania on 19-23 February 2001 and AS/Bur (2001) 029, report by the President of the Assembly on his visit to Albania on 16-18 April 2001.
2 See Doc. 8292 Addendum III, Information report on the Referendum in Albania.
3 See Document CG/CP (7) 13 rev, report on the local government elections in Albania.