Request of 47 opposition MPs: To change the composition of the Electoral Reform Commission

2024-01-25 14:43:00, Politikë CNA

Request of 47 opposition MPs: To change the composition of the Electoral Reform

In a request addressed to the Speaker of the Assembly and for the information of the Ambassadors of Quint and the Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of the SP, the 43 deputies of the DP of the Bardhi-Berisha grouping, the 3 deputies of the Freedom Party and the deputy of the DP Agron Shehaj, have asked the Speaker of the Assembly to proceed with changing the composition of the Special Parliamentary Commission for Electoral Reform.

The 47 MPs of the opposition, who together with the 7 MPs of the Parliamentary Group for Democracy and Integration who have appointed Shpëtim Idrizi as their members, constitute the absolute majority of the MPs of the opposition, have emphasized that apart from the fact that Albania has the international obligation to reflect the recommendations of OSCE-ODIHR, on the other hand, the Assembly has the obligation to reflect 3 decisions of the Constitutional Court, which are mainly related to the legal formula for calculating mandates for deputies, as well as the vote of Albanian citizens living abroad.

In a long letter, the opposition MPs have explained in detail how the work of the Special Electoral Reform Commission was blocked for about 2 years by the current co-chairs.

"Because in 18 months the Special Commission held only two inaugural meetings and did not fulfill the responsibility assigned by the Assembly nor the deadlines of the work calendar that it had approved, on May 14, 2023, elections were held in Albania without any legal changes and without addressing any of the OSCE-ODIHR Recommendations of 2021" - the letter states. The signatory MPs state that they have analyzed the situation since September 2023 and have concluded that no representative of the majority and the opposition, the leading role belongs to the co-chairs, had never officially requested a meeting of the Commission, had no reaction or instigated any public debate on this issue, they had never informed the Parliamentary Group or the Assembly itself about the existence of any objective reason for blocking the work in the Commission, as well as the leader of the opposition in the Commission had not held any meeting, consultation or meeting with other members of the opposition. "From this analysis, it was proven that clearly the Electoral Reform was being left in silence, it was being deliberately blocked, even though time was passing and the next elections were near. It is the right of the body that has mandated the representatives to review their role, as well as to hold them accountable when political interests are violated or when the trust given is misused. In this sense, the sufficient time of 22 months to exercise the assigned responsibility and the lack of progress in this matter, makes it necessary to change the composition of the Commission" - says the letter addressed to the Speaker of the Assembly.

The MPs note that within the framework of the constructive and comprehensive dialogue, the Parliamentary Group of the Democratic Party, the Parliamentary Group "Alliance for Change" and other MPs of the opposition, decided to propose changing the composition of the Special Commission, emphasizing for the first time officially that in the event that the 7 deputies of the Parliamentary Group of the Democratic Party who were absent from the meeting (Arbi Agalliu, Enkelejd Alibeaj, Eralda Bano, Flutura Acka, Kreshnik Çollaku, Lulzim Basha, and Orjola Pampuri) express their willingness to be represented by a member chosen by of them, then the parliamentary group expresses its willingness to withdraw a member from the proposal and appoint one of the colleagues who is absent from the meeting as a member of the Commission.

The letter of the deputies closes with the call to the Speaker of the Assembly to respond to the call of international partners to find a way of dialogue between the parties and to take into consideration the agreement reached in the Resolution of the Stabilization-Association Committee EU-Albania, which emphasizes the need to ensure a truly representative and inclusive approach in the Electoral Reform Commission./ CNA