The 2023 local elections in Albania / The choice between the drug cartels and/or the Parliamentary Republic?

2023-05-11 13:31:00, Aktualitet CNA

The 2023 local elections in Albania / The choice between the drug cartels and/or

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The International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) from Ljubljana, Slovenia, regularly analyzes developments in the Middle East, the Balkans and around the world.

IFIMES made an analysis of the current political situation in the Republic of Albania within the local elections, scheduled to be held on May 14, 2023.

We bring you the most important and interesting parts of the extensive analysis "Local elections 2023 in Albania: The choice between drug cartels and/or the Parliamentary Republic?"

Local elections 2023 in Albania: The choice between drug cartels and/or the Parliamentary Republic?

In the Republic of Albania, the next local elections are scheduled to be held on May 14, 2023. The last local elections, held on June 30, 2019, were boycotted by the opposition, while the turnout was only 21.6%. As a result, all positions in the local government were occupied by the candidates of the Socialist Party (SP) headed by Edi Rama. The last local elections in Albania took place in an atmosphere of tension, as the Albanian opposition withdrew from the work of the Assembly and organized political activities in the streets of Tirana, where they demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Rama, the establishment of a temporary body, the government and the holding of elections General.

In the local elections, a total of 3,650,550 eligible voters will be able to vote in 5,211 polling stations. 48 political parties with 23,788 candidates will participate in the local elections. Out of the total number, 144 candidates aspire to be mayors of municipalities, among which 15 are women. The elections will be monitored by 324 international OSCE/ODIHR observers. Albania has 61 municipalities and the country needs a deep reform of local self-government.

Albania was granted EU candidate status in September 2014. The country opened membership negotiations with the EU at the end of 2022. The list of issues Albania needs to address includes justice reform, the fight against crime (drug and human trafficking) and corruption, the lack of independent media, the depoliticization of institutions, the improvement of efficiency, as well as the establishment of a more dynamic dialogue between the government and the opposition with the aim of making the reforms more comprehensive and fast. Political pressures, intimidation, corruption and limited resources have prevented the judiciary from becoming fully functional, independent and effective. Corruption is omnipresent in all segments and at all levels of government, including the areas of public procurement and public-private partnerships.

An inevitable question for Edi Rama is why Albania is still the poorest country in Europe, although it has a tremendous development potential? Both the EU and NATO failed to resolve the political crisis in Albania. However, the crisis in Albania has exposed the corruption network of Edi Rama, which includes some (former) high officials of the EU, the USA and some other countries.

"Together We Win" coalition against the Socialist Party

Although these are local elections in which the leaders of the main political parties do not participate, the key pre-election "race" is taking place between the leaders of the Socialist Party and the current Prime Minister Edi Rama on the one hand, and the coalition "Bashke Fitomjem", led by two veterans of Albanian politics and former Albanian presidents Sali Berisha and Ilir Meta.

Although there is a fight for every position and every vote, the election campaign is directed in big cities like Tirana, Elbasan and Durrës. According to public opinion polls, the level of public support of the Socialist Party and "We win together" is more or less equal. The "Together We Win" coalition dominates in the north of Albania (Shkodër, Tropojë, Kukës, Lezhë and Has), but its support is also growing in the south of the country.

The results of pre-election polls in Albania do not always provide reliable indicators of the electorate's opinion regarding how the public will vote on election day. However, the results of the polls are used as a basis for determining election strategies, debates and analyses.

The choice between the drug cartels and/or the Parliamentary Republic?

When Edi Rama launched the police operation aimed at destroying the village of Lazarat, which was the center of the drug business, a final confrontation with the drug business was expected. Later it turned out that Edi Rama had only put the business under his control. Moreover, instead of following reforms, development and further democratization of the country, he started the process of "cannabiization of Albania".

A significant part of the arable land is planted with cannabis, while the drug business is controlled by political-criminal structures. During the term of Prime Minister Edi Rama, Albania became a safe haven for criminals from Europe, Asia, North and South America. A mitigating circumstance for criminal structures is the visa-free regime that Albania has with EU member states, which allows criminals free movement and business activity, as well as large profits from drug and human trafficking. The doors of Albania's EU membership have been closed, as long as Rama is at the head of the Albanian government, the country will not join the EU.

The report of the International Narcotics Control Strategy identifies Albania as the source of cannabis and the base of organized criminal groups that illegally trade the drug from the country of origin to European markets. Albanian cannabis is distributed in Turkey and exchanged for heroin and cocaine, which Albanian citizens smuggle across Europe.

Albanian authorities have recorded an increase in cocaine seized in 2021 through the port of Durrës, mainly in banana shipments from Ecuador. The Albanian police participated in several interstate law enforcement operations in 2021. In the operations, Albanian nationals were arrested in, among others, Greece, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.

Albanian law enforcement authorities cooperated with their American counterparts in arresting and confiscating a shipment of narcotics and a drug processing laboratory in Albania, as well as seizing property in Albania related to international drug trafficking. After his arrest on March 31, 2021 in the USA, the Albanian courts confiscated Ylli Didani.

Assets of 1.2 million dollars in April 2021. The Special Anti-Corruption Structure (SPAK) was established. Some successes were achieved in 2021, including the arrest of 38 people, including a prosecutor and several senior police officials, as part of a major international investigation into drug and human trafficking.

Albanian citizens play an important role in the international and organized criminal network of drug trafficking. Furthermore, Albania is a key element of the Balkan route for drug trafficking to Western Europe and Great Britain.

Albanian organized crime groups are present in the USA, Great Britain and throughout Europe, as well as in South America, including Ecuador, Colombia and Peru. They have established an integrated chain of procurement, transport, distribution and sales in Europe, UK and USA. Albanian organized criminal groups continue to launder money in Albania, thus contributing to corruption in the country.

In Albania, violent crime is often associated with organized crime, but also with judges, prosecutors, the police and the media, who are often subject to intimidation. Relatively weak rule of law, corruption and high unemployment are the main Albanian problems related to the control of drug trafficking. Criminal justice reforms in Albania should include the removal of judges and prosecutors linked to organized crime and/or unjustified wealth.

The US supports justice reforms in Albania through advisory support and capacity development for SPAK prosecutors and investigators, expansion of inter-institutional cooperation in investigations, corrections of reforms aimed at limiting the operations of transnational organized crime. In addition, the US has also provided specialized equipment to enhance relevant operational capabilities. Albania must continue with judicial reform, strengthen anti-money laundering regulations and oversight, and work to eliminate the influence of organized crime on the Albanian government and society.

The special structure for the fight against corruption and organized crime (SPAK), which includes the Special Prosecutor's Office (PSPO) and the National Bureau of Investigation (BKB), is incompetent. While progress has been made regarding the confiscation of assets linked to organized crime, it should be further intensified in the future.

Furthermore, it is also necessary to continue efforts aimed at achieving increased prosecution and better implementation of final and binding decisions, especially at the senior level. The fight against cyber, crime, human trafficking and money laundering remain areas where additional results are required.

An indicator of the situation in Albania is the increase in the number of Albanian citizens who have submitted requests for asylum in EU member states. The adoption of the tax and criminal amnesty is contrary to the position of the Council of the EU and Moneyval and may harm the progress in this field, as well as in the fight against money laundering.

»Albania remains vulnerable to money laundering due to corruption, the presence of organized crime networks and gaps in legislation and oversight. Albania has a large cash economy and an informal sector, with significant remittances and foreign investment. Narcotics trafficking and other organized crime activities are the main sources of laundered funds. Albanian criminal organizations are connected to networks that operate widely in Europe and South America."

Frequent scandals with international dimensions expose the connections between the Rama regime and international factors and the corruption of foreign officials (the case of former FBI official Charles McGonigal). The creation and empowerment of several government agencies related to Prime Minister Rama (Agency for Co-Governance, Agency for Media and Information, Agency for Strategic Programming and Aid Coordination - SASPAC) without a comprehensive management framework and without systematic supervision of the lines of supervision and reporting, raise questions about effective coordination and service delivery by public administration bodies.

Analysts believe that the upcoming elections in Albania exceed the character and importance of local elections, because they are an opportunity to start the final confrontation with Edi Rama's regime and the decriminalization of Albania.

The alliance between Sali Berisha and Ilir Meta through the "Together We Win" coalition unites opposition political forces and represents a mass movement of dissatisfied citizens of Albania, ready to join a fight for the final confrontation with drug cartels, crime and corruption .

The local elections are an opportunity for the citizens of Albania to choose whether they want to have a drug cartel rule the country and/or a parliamentary republic whose citizens have been largely robbed and deprived over the last 10 years.

Elections must be transparent, free and fair, without buying voters with "black money", this is dirty money from drug businesses and human trafficking. That is, the income from drug businesses exceeds the Albanian national budget. The political concept of keeping Edi Rama in power is based on buying votes and intimidation, and Rama has at his disposal unlimited amounts of money of dubious origin and a repressive apparatus for such purposes.

Rama vs. Strong Civil Society (NGO)

The implementation of the new law on the registration of non-profit organizations approved in June 2021 has not yet started. The Supreme Judicial Council has received budget funds for the procurement of an electronic register of non-profit organizations and the contract for its implementation was signed in May 2022. There has been no progress in the implementation of the roadmap for creating a favorable environment for civil society, especially in the framework of the law for volunteers.

Institutional cooperation between civil society and the government still needs to be strengthened to ensure the intentional participation of civil society organizations (CSOs) in decision-making processes, as well as in EU membership negotiations. The empowerment of civil society is a key component of any democratic society, which is in deficit in Albania and which Edi Rama clearly fears.

The necessary transitional government for the preparation of early elections

Albania is in a situation of silent civil war, an extremely polarized and divided society, as well as an increased number of assassinations, which is no surprise. Why is Albania a divided society? To engage in a drug business, human trafficking, crime and corruption requires a divided society, which will divert public attention from the operations of the drug business.

With the fall of Enver Hoxha's communist regime in 1991, the retrograde forces were defeated. However, after the coming to power of Edi Rama and his Socialist Party (SP), whose roots go to the former communist party of Albania, these forces were revitalized in power. Guided by his desire to stay in power, Rama will try to transfer the crisis from Albania to the region, but also to the wider European space. Albania needs a new cycle of democratization and decriminalization of the state.

The processes in the region, which first started in North Macedonia, are gradually eliminating the proponents of destabilization, crime and corruption, such as Nikola Gruevski (VMRO-DPMNE), Hashim Thaçi (PDK), Boyko Borisov (GERB) and then the fall of Milo Djukanovic (DPS), Milorad Dodik (SNSD) and Edi Rama (SP) are next in line. Not without reason, Edi Rama had openly supported Milo Djukanovi? in the last elections in Montenegro, because by supporting Djukanovi? he was supporting himself, as well as his similar concept and method of government.

Judging by all, the local elections will trigger the creation of an interim government that will organize early parliamentary elections and a smooth transition of government. Edi Rama's greatest "success" is that during his mandate he strengthened Albania's position as the poorest country in Europe.

Ljubljana/Brussels/Washington/Tirana, May 10, 2023/ CNA.al