Electoral reform, AHC accuses the commission: There is no transparency

Electoral reform, AHC accuses the commission: There is no transparency

The Special Parliamentary Commission tasked with electoral reform is proceeding with their work at a snail pace, well exceeding the set deadlines. 

The Albanian Helsinki Committee is highly critical of the commission, accusing it of lack of transparency. They published a written statement on their website declaring: 

"Despite the fact that the commission ended its mandate on April 13th, there is no information on any important issues having been reached solutions by consensus, if the work on drafting the draft amendments has even begun." 

The Albanian Helsinki Committee, based on the practices of the past, stresses that due to lack of consensus major political parties have made changes on the eve of the election.

"These changes, drafted in a short time and without a transparent and inclusive process, have harmed the quality of the Code and did not take into account the OSCE / ODIHR recommendations for the last three elections. 

"This may create the impression that the Code changes are a monopoly of two major parties." 

The AHC suggested depoliticization of the election administration and the recommended the implementation of the pilot electronic system. 

They added that particular attention should be paid to proposals for changing the electoral system to include voting of Albanian nationals abroad, strengthening control over the source of funding of political parties, and measures to prevent vote buying. 

EMISIONET