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Short statement of the Albanian Embassy in Bern, Switzerland
»The Parliamentary elections of the 26th of May in Albania were free and fair. Some irregularities and technical shortcomings were noticed, but those didnÕt have any effect on the outcome of the elections.

The irregularities were caused by the withdrawal from the electoral commissions by the end of the election day of the left opposition parties representatives. Their withdrawal contributed to the lack of confidence in the integrity of the counting process. Because of these irregularities, the Central Electoral Commission decided to re-run the elections in 17 constituencies. The outcome of the re-run of the elections in those 17 districts, as well as that of the second round of the elections in 9 districts (where none of the candidates had the 50%+1 of the votes in the first round), totally in 26 out of 115 constituencies, confirmed the figures of the first round.

One cannot but notice that the final result is in full compliance with the opinion polls realised by either foreign and domestic institutions. Mention can be made here of the tests of opinion realised by the end of 1995 by the American International Institute and the Eurobarometer, or of the opinion poll conducted in Albania by the Washington D.C. based International Republican Institute on the election day.«

Gazmend Turdiu, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Albania, Bern

OSCE/Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR): Final report about the observation of the parliamentary elections held in the Republic of Albania Š May 26 and June 2, 1996: recommendations
The following recommendations were made by observers, and include:

• Establishment of a permanent and independent Central Election Commission to create confidence in the administration of the election process among all parties and the electorate
• Establishment of a more realistic timetable in the election law for election related deadlines. The present time schedule in the existing law is too tight
• Establishment of a comprehensive voter education program, particularly in light of the large number of invalid ballots
• Re-designing the ballot papers so that the voter only selects the party or candidate of his/her choice by marking only the party/candidate selected, eliminating the time consuming process of having to draw a line through each party/candidate deselected
• Establishment of a more inclusive process for amending the electoral map, so that all parties can have greater confidence in this process. The Central Election Commission should also be involved in any future amendments to the electoral map, which is not possible under the existing lax due to the fact that the Commission is appointed only 45 days prior to election day. The appointment of a permanent Commission would address this problem
• Implementation of confidence building measures, such as full co-operation with international observers, accreditation of all domestic observers, the issuance of protocols to polling stations in sufficient numbers and mandatory sealing of ballot boxes
• Updating the accuracy of the voter resister, and improved accessibility of the electorate to the voter register
• Establishment of a standardized training of all election officials (including party representatives) at all levels of the election administration;
• Placing of more than one polling booth per polling station
• The responsibilities of police should be more clearly defined with regard to the election process.

OSCE Chairman-in-Office Issues Statement on Elections in Albania
The Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE has taken note with great concern of the findings contained in the post-election statement published by the Office for Democratic lnstitutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the OSCE, According to this report, serious irregularities have occurred in the conduct of the elections. The situation may jeopardize the country's prospect for democratic developement.
On the basis of the ODIHR's conclusions, the Chairman-in-Office appeals to the political parties in Albania that they examine, for the sake of democratic stability, all measures including the possibility of partial repetition of elections, in order to resolve the dispute. Only a policy of moderation can ensure a peaceful settlement of the present difficulties.

The Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, Swiss Foreign Minister Flavio Cotti, 30 May 1996

Wer sich selber ein Bild machen will: bestellen Sie folgende Wahl-Beobachter-Berichte bei der Redaktion:
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (13 Seiten), OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (18 Seiten), Central Electoral Commission response to the OSCE/ODIHR report (11 Seiten), The British Helsinki Human Rights Group (55 Seiten), Mark Almond (BHHRG): »Who Observes The Observers« (2 Seiten).
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