In Albania, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) announced today that it has just launched an observation mission for the April 25th parliamentary elections in Albania.
During the field campaign, there will be 50 observers, while the rest will come on election day. The numbers have dropped due to the pandemic, said the head of the Mission, Ambassador Ursula Gacek, but the observation will be complete throughout the territory.
The ODHIR observation team for the April 25 parliamentary elections has 13 experts, who are already stationed in Albania.
In a few days, 24 long-term observers will arrive and will be deployed in all 12 counties from March 26.
Ambassador Urszula Gacek, who heads the observation mission, said that member states are very interested in the full implementation of international electoral standards in terms of equality, fairness and secrecy of the process, as well as in accordance with the Electoral Code, where a deep reform has been made regarding the terms of race rules.
"We have a lot of data on how the elections took place in the past, but this year will be special elections for two reasons: firstly, there are many changes in the legislation, secondly, both observers and voters will move through an electoral process in the time of "COVID pandemic, and both of these will affect the elections," said Ambassador Gacek.
Due to quarantine, travel restrictions, the pandemic situation, which extends everywhere and not only in Albania, their number may be lower.
Today, the Central Elections Commission (CEC) called on political parties to show prudence and restraint, because elections are made for the citizens.
Two politically motivated incidents took place in Elbasan, one on the Summer Day when militants from both parties confronted each other, and on Thursday the former opposition MP Luciano Boci with a local businessman. In both cases, the initial causes have not been uncovered by professional investigations, but the political motivation driven by the temperature of the early election campaign is known.
The CEC stressed in a public statement that the conduct and speeches of political representatives directly affect their supporters and violate election standards.
"Harsh language and conflicting behavior do not serve the interest of citizens in holding free, fair and democratic elections, a condition for the country's European integration," the statement said.
The CEC demanded that the parties respect each other and respect the right of citizens to independently form their own opinion and uninfluenced, as well as their right to peaceful, free, and democratic elections.
CEC representatives met with the international observer mission, ODIHR, which has conducted up to 50 election observation missions in Albania since 1996.