Kamëz Part 3

For those who want a lengthy detailed report into the election there will, undoubtedly, be a range of them to chose from. In the meantime, here are my brief reflections on the last few weeks.

At the heart of the problems around this election is the unwarranted influence of political parties on all aspects of the electoral process. Every institution responsible for organising and facilitating the election is under the control of political parties.

The Electoral Code itself was heavily revised only days before the original date for the elections and only weeks before the actual date (Law 9676 13 January 2007). It was these revisions, specifically Article 181/2, that created the overly complicated identification requirements that caused so much confusion, and undoubtedly disenfranchised some voters.

Let's be clear though: these revisions were not designed to protect the interests of the electorate. They were drafted primarily because the political parties do not trust each other.

The Central Election Commission - the full-time body responsible for managing all elections in Albania - is largely made up of members nominated by the parties affiliated with the two main political groupings. The actual process is complicated so I won't go into detail but you can find it in Article 22 of the Electoral Code.

The process for choosing the ninth member of the Commission, the fact that members are appointed for seven years, and the requirement that members must not have been on the local or central steering bodies of political parties in the previous five years, means that the CEC does have some measure of credibility.

From this point on, however, the political parties are in total control. The Local Government Election Commissions, the Voting Centre Commissions, and the Counting Teams each have 13 members and one secretary, all of whom are political appointees.

(For those who are interested: LGEC Article 40; VCC Article 45; CT Article 95/2)

The problem with this whole system is that the bodies charged with administering the election are not interested in the process, merely in the outcome. As a result, the process was incompetently and carelessly managed. They also bring to the process the same suspicion, distrust and hostility that is a hallmark of Albanian politics.

One person left a comment on a previous post suggesting that a little chaos in the administration is not that important if the election is fair - if the voting has not been manipulated. But the point is that citizens can only be sure that the outcome is fair if the process has been scrupulously observed.

In an electoral system that has the general confidence of the people a little chaos might be forgiven; in a system dominated by political parties whose relationship is utterly dysfunctional the process is crucial. Every oversight, every careless implementation of procedures, every failing whether with malicious intent or not, has the potential to give rise to accusations of corruption and manipulation.

Albanian politicians like to tell themselves that Albania is a European country - geographically, yes; culturally, no. It sounds more glamorous to define Europe - or the Euro-Atlantic community - as a zone of freedom, opportunity and wealth. But these things don't come out of nowhere; they don't happen by accident. They are built on and sustained by much more mundane realities.

Process matters, details matter, a functioning bureaucracy matters, good management matters, an independent civil service matters, an engaged body of citizens matters. Without these, Albania's road to Europe is going to be a lot longer than its leaders would have its citizens believe.

Now, since my Albanian readers - if they are still reading - are probably totally pissed at yet another lecture by a useless greedy 'international' I think I should stop. Since I can't end on a song, I'll end with a dancing Tony Blair. I don't think they do a dancing Berisha or Rama yet, but it's only a matter of time. Enjoy.