The failure of the Electoral Reform Commission/ISP "slaps" the Assembly and political parties

2024-03-23 21:28:00, Politikë CNA

The failure of the Electoral Reform Commission/ISP "slaps" the

The Institute of Political Studies (ISP) has issued a statement regarding the end of the term of the Special Commission for Electoral Reform and the expectations for reform

The ISP declares that the failure of the Commission is the failure of the Assembly to address its responsibilities and the failure of the vision, ability and integrity of the main constituent political parties.

Also, ISP states that the Assembly did not address the decisions of the Constitutional Court, the suggestions of the Venice Commission, the recommendations of ODIHR, although Albania has entered an election year.

The Institute of Political Studies appeals to the Assembly to change its approach and reflect on the failure.

Full statement:

The Special Electoral Reform Commission requested at the beginning of the 2021 legislature and established in 2022 consumed the fourth parliamentary mandate without managing to fulfill its goals or implement any element of the electoral reform.

Debates about legitimacy and co-leadership dominated its activity, and only in recent months the commission organized partial hearings with civil society organizations, political parties and institutions involved in electoral processes.

The failure of the Electoral Reform Commission/ISP "slaps" the

1. The failure of the Commission is in its essence the failure of the Assembly of Albania to address its responsibilities regarding the country's need for functional, comprehensive and transparent electoral reform. The Assembly contented itself with the extensions of the time mandates without analyzing, debating or demanding accountability regarding the product, as well as creating the wrong idea that the reform would take place.

2. The failure of the Commission is also a failure of the vision, ability and integrity of the main constituent political parties, especially the leaders of the commission, who allowed the political interests of the day to superimpose the public, institutional and legal interest and responsibility for electoral reform. They ignored calls from civil society, citizens, international partners and treated the reform as an internal issue of parties with a veto of direction.

3. Essential issues such as the decisions of the Constitutional Court on the vote of the diaspora, the initiator and independent candidates, the suggestions of the Venice Commission, as well as proposals and constructive ideas that were attached to the unresolved recommendations of the ODIHR, but also the worrying issues related to the legislation not effective on political parties, on electoral and periodical financing, as well as on the misuse of state resources in the electoral campaign, - still remain unaddressed by the Assembly, although Albania has entered an election year.

In the new circumstances when the Assembly has warned that a subcommittee within the Laws Commission will address electoral issues, i.e. an unstable structure, with a more limited mandate and no guarantee of concrete results, Albania risks going to the 2025 elections without reform election.

The Institute of Political Studies (ISP) appeals to the Assembly to change its approach and reflect on the failure, to enable and guarantee a comprehensive and transparent process, which addresses not only the recommendations of the ODIHR/OSCE and the decisions of the Constitutional Court, but also public expectations. and civil society recommendations for reforming the representative system, equality and standards, integrity and transparency.

This is the first test and condition that Albania must do in the EU alignment process, a status that requires from the candidate country fair and widely accepted elections, functional democracy and respect for the values ??of freedom, integrity and the rule of law. ./ CNA