Three civil society organizations engaged in issues of transparency, accountability and democratic culture have recently addressed a letter to the Parliamentary Committee for Legal Affairs and the Group of Dialogue.
More specifically:
· the Albanian Institute of Sciences (AIS), promoter of Open Data Albania, with Executive Director Mrs. Aranita Brahaj.
· the Society for Democratic Culture (SDC), with Executive Director Mrs. Gerta Meta.
· the Albanian Center for Economic Research (ACER), with Executive Director Mr. Zef Preçi.
They have requested that the Parliament discuss with priority in plenary session a proposal to amend Article 91, points 4 and 5 of Law Nr. 10019/2008, the “Electoral Code”, to ensure that Public Funds are not abusively used for narrow political interests during Elections. The three organizations argue that payments from the State Treasury through individual grants on the days preceding the voting risk creating undue and unfair influence, in favor of the ruling party.
As mentioned above, we have provided evidence of this abuse, citing the payments of Individual Grants made just a few days, or even a few hours before voting took place in the municipality of Durrës in March 2021, during the election campaign[1].
The Parliament, through its representatives, has announced that in the July 25th and 26th session, with consensus between the two political parties, the opposition and the majority, amendments to the Law on the Electoral Code will be introduced. These amendments coincide with adjustments for the Diaspora Vote and the Procedure of Allocation of Parliamentary Mandates Composition of Party Lists.
Earlier in 2023, during the work of the Electoral Reform Commission, civil society actors recommended changes concerning: the Financing of Electoral Entities, the de-politicization of Electoral Administration, and the Use of Public Resources and Finances in the pre-election period. So far, there are 9 draft laws attempting to amend the Electoral Code (Iniciativa Ligjore të Propozuara në Parlament për Ndryshime të Ligjit Nr. 10019, datë 29.12.2008 “Kodi Zgjedhor i Republikës së Shqipërisë”, i ndryshuar – Open Data Albania (ndiqparate.al). With the failure of the Electoral Reform Commission, it appears that the Parliament has reverted to introducing revisions through draft-law initiatives.
The three civil society organizations urge the Parliament to promptly introduce the amendments and additions to Article 91, points 4 and 5 of the Electoral Code, preventing the misuse of public money for illicit electoral influence and political interest in the upcoming April 2025 Elections.
Download the Formal Request sent to the Parliament.
___________________________________________