Remarks on 2005 Parliamentary Elections in Albania
United States Helsinki Commission Delivered by Jennifer Butz, Resident Director for Albania, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs March 21, 2005 Members of the Commission, thank you for inviting the National Democratic Institute to offer our insights and observations regarding the upcoming parliamentary elections in Albania. NDI is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization supporting democratic institutions and processes worldwide. I have lived in Tirana for more than three years as Country Director for NDI which manages the Democracy and Governance Program in Albania, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. NDI is pleased to be joined in this new three-year program by Partners for Democratic Change and IREX. With USAID support, NDI began its work in Albania in 1991, helping to nurture emerging voices of democracy as the country emerged from decades of communism and self-isolation. Building on those efforts, NDI has in the last five years worked with approximately 700 reform-minded members of 10 political parties across the political spectrum, and with more than 5,000 citizens in a political participation and advocacy program called Civic Forum. Albania's last parliamentary elections, in 2001, though flawed, saw progress in the reduction of violence and in some technical areas. In this election cycle, Albania still has the opportunity to hold elections that reflect the letter and spirit of international election standards. To do so, Albanians must overcome longstanding political challenges that have marred past elections. Election and judicial officials must apply technical expertise and legal authority in strictly nonpartisan fashion. Political leaders must demonstrate political will and consensus—through action and not just rhetoric—to prevent corrupt practices, such as media bias, voter list tampering, vote buying, ballot box stuffing, and improper proxy voting. And other actors—NGOs, media, candidates, and ordinary citizens—must take on their obligations—as voters, monitors, advocates, and reporters—actively and responsibly. They too, as never before, will affect Albania's election process. A genuine election process will strengthen the country's political fabric, renew opportunity to promote transparency and accountability within government, enlarge the space in which civil society and politicians can interact, and move Albania toward NATO and EU membership. There is much at stake. As the other panelists cover the legal framework and the election administration, I will devote NDI's remarks to the political and civic actors whose ability to overcome longstanding challenges will greatly affect the conduct and outcome of this election. Voters Vote-buying and influence-peddling reflect corrupt practices that extend well beyond election day. People generally know what their neighbors and friends are doing. Often they know who has sold their vote. Citizens who do not sell their vote risk being pressured and labeled "uncooperative." Those who sell their votes prosper from election to election, confirming suspicions of influence-peddling and deepening public cynicism as to the real purpose and benefit of elections. Too often one's vote is about market value rather than democratic virtue. Another challenge for voters is uncertainty over where to vote and how to register. And, for women, so-called "family voting"—in which the male head of household votes for all registered family members—and low female turnout diminish women's political voices. In 2003, the OSCE noted that family voting occurred in 30% of polling stations. My own observation of family voting during that election cycle was far higher—in nearly 27 of the 30 voting centers that I visited in Durr�s and Tirana. The international donor community and those who implement democracy programs are engaged and more coordinated than during previous election cycles. NGOs are educating voters—men and women—about the mechanics of voting, for example to confirm their names on voter lists and to identify their polling stations ahead of election day. NDI is helping local civic groups orient the vote around public issues by surveying people and relaying their "constituent platforms" to candidates standing for parliament. The message here is that citizens can influence the policy priorities of those who purport to represent them, and that their vote does count, After the elections, in part through the Civic Forum program, these documents will create a basis from which to monitor the extent to which their concerns are addressed after election day. Nongovernmental Organizations A key election challenge is the less-than-transparent political affiliation of some NGOs. The two main parties have created NGO advisory councils that are in fact part of the parties' election campaigns. It is important that NGOs participating in these councils make clear their partisan affiliation by making public, for example, that their members are candidates of a particular party. Otherwise, lines between partisanship and nonpartisanship are blurred and public cynicism deepens. The NGO sector affords tremendous opportunity for citizens to contribute to election transparency and fairness. Under the banner of the Albanian Coalition Against Corruption (ACAC), supported by NDI and our partners, seven NGOs are spearheading a domestic, nonpartisan monitoring project on a scale not seen before in Albania. The goal is to train and deploy more than 3,000 citizen monitors to 60% of Albania's polling stations, spread across the country. It is a challenge to organize a logistical operation of this size, and there is ambiguity in the election law about the ability of nonpartisan monitors to access polling station protocols through which to verify results, but the NGO sector is ready to make a strong effort. NGOs are also going high-tech, with plans to create websites where those with internet access can compare candidate and party platforms, look at the voting records of incumbents, and find other useful information. These initiatives are important to make young people vote their conscience rather than with their feet, as has been the trend. Media Rather than provide voters with comparative platforms, voting records of incumbents, or other objective information from which voters might form opinions, the media often act as a vehicle for unsubstantiated information, innuendo, and rumor, lowering public expectations of a clean election. Meanwhile, journalistic self-censorship for fear of retribution is common. Few journalists have work contracts, leaving them exposed to summary dismissal or other coercive methods if they offend owners or power brokers. On the positive side, civic groups and media outlets, with assistance from NDI and our partners, are collaborating to produce televised candidate debates to enable voters to be directly informed and thus able to make more informed choices. As well, an NGO media monitoring initiative under the ACAC banner is underway, although it remains too soon to see if such an effort will produce qualitative and quantitative assessment of media bias that can be presented to voters in timely and accessible fashion. Political Parties There are reform-minded politicians in all major Albanian parties-many of whom are climbing in the ranks-and NDI is proud to support them. Their cause is challenged by internal party machinery that too often supports personality over principle, rewards loyalty rather than vision, and centralizes power rather than sharing it with members. The casualties are transparency and accountability; the victor too often is corruption, and at the end of the day the public interest is not served. A NDI initiative—one-member-one- vote—has led seven major parties to commit publicly to verifiable efforts to include registered members in deciding party affairs. Several political parties are already using one-member-one-vote to decide on candidates and party representatives on election commissions. This is a small but concrete step to change how parties operate internally and through their members reflect the broader public interest in their decisions. Another NDI initiative is a political party code of conduct that publicly commits parties to verifiable standards of ethical behavior during the election campaign, such as avoidance of political violence and condemnation and investigation if it does occur. Ten parliamentary political parties began reviewing a draft code this week. This-and the other initiatives mentioned are important first steps in using the elections to promote the idea that political parties are accountable to the public and need to acquit themselves in a manner that merits public respect. Good elections depend on a sound legal framework, effective administration, and most certainly political will-before the election, on election day, and after the votes are counted. Having rescued itself from social anarchy in the late 1990s, Albania today enjoys relative political stability. Yet it needs to step forward to make its political system not just stable but democratic, for only democracy can bring real stability. These elections provide both opportunity and risk in this regard. Dreams of Euroatlantic integration hang in the balance. Unless there is a significant change in political will, genuine elections will again prove elusive. NDI, our program partners, and an increasingly well-coordinated group of international organizations in Albania are supporting the thousands of Albanians working to make these elections succeed. Each step taken-checking one's name on a voter list, confirming one's polling station, monitoring political party conduct, holding candidate debates, observing the voting process, overseeing the ballot counting-is important. Differences will no doubt occur, as they do in established democracies. How those are managed politically, the level of fairness, transparency, and accountability demonstrated, will be of paramount importance. Albanians are by turns wary and hopeful as they head toward these elections. If voters can make informed choices and see their votes respected, Albania and its democracy will be well served. The difficult decisions are for Albanians to make. Ultimately the desire and ownership of free and fair elections-with all the attendant actions these demand-must come from within the nation. |