Albania has one more month to agree on electoral reform

 Albanian politicians have another month to agree on the new electoral reform as Albania Parliament decided to pass the ruling coalition's proposal to postpone the deadline for the parliamentary ad hoc committee on this reform, official sources said Friday.

Electoral reform and improvement of the electoral code was one of the conditions set by the European Union (EU) for Albania's election.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) made several recommendations in this regard, mainly in terms of political parties' funds and financing which should be made public, but also in terms of keeping criminal elements away from the polling stations.

So far no agreement has been reached because the Albanian opposition insisted on introducing electronic voting and counting process for the upcoming parliamentary elections which are scheduled for June 18.

But the majority has refused this proposal, arguing there is no time to implement this new electronic version.

Even Berndt Borchard, head of the OSCE presence in Albania, declared in statements that there was no time for Albania to make such big changes in such a short period as less than five months remained before the election day.

However, the opposition sees the electronic version as the only one that could guarantee free and fair elections here.

The political parties have another month to decide if they will enter the next parliamentary elections of June 18 with the current electoral code or they will amend it.

source: Xinhua