Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama at the conference “Electoral corruption, the need for a thorough and comprehensive electoral reform “, initiated by the Domestic Coalition of Observers:

Thank you! I believe that first of all, not as a formality but for the sake of truth, a particular merit goes to the Speaker of Parliament, who even before the conclusion of the last year session published a concern and also the commitment to open as ever before in a very reasonable time, the process of discussions, and to open the path for a special committee for further election reform.

Of course, this is also an expression of the will of the ruling majority, which has a history of its own in relation to liberating elections in Albania from the clutches of the past. It doesn’t take a major effort to go back to the recent history of the country and to remember the years 2009 or 2011 in Tirana, just as it does not take any special effort to say that based on these two options I mentioned, the Socialist Party has been and remains a major force, determined and oriented to modernize the electoral process in Albania.

Of course we are also convinced, not just for the fact that the path to perfection does never end, but as far as reality of elections in Albania is concerned, there is still much room for improvement, there is still much room for corrections, there is still plenty of room to streamline the process, aiming to minimize negative phenomena that for the sake of truth have been shrinking, but continue to be present in every election in Albania.

I believe, also, that thanks to great battles after the 2009 and 2011 elections in Tirana, some achievements of great importance have been made, which were not only unthinkable, but have been brutally in the past. Suffice the fact that today it is a generally accepted norm the right to demand transparency in every part of the electoral process, providing by law the guarantee of every actor in the process to see the procedure of the Central Election Committee, the ballot boxes and election materials, in order to have a clear idea of what progress has been made in this regard.

I am also convinced that there are still inherent differences in the view of looking at the elections in Albania, for anyone who observes them for the first time.

If the election of 2015 are seen as if it were for the first time, certainly the point of view will be different from the point of view of seeing it as part of a process, and on a comparative base to what happened in the elections of 2009 or 2011. The same applies to 2013. Let us not forget that despite the traditional disputes of the losers, both the elections of 2013 and those of 2015 are processes accepted by everyone, primarily by the voters and the legitimacy of the winners, which is a legitimacy based on this popular consent, and this has made possible the opening of a road of no return for reforms that the country has been missing for over 20 years.

On the other hand, we are very committed, and here I can confirm out and loud the commitment of our coalition and of the SP and SMI alliance, to address all recommendations of the OSCE / ODIHR.

And for this reason, before the President of the Assembly required all parties to be immediately engaged in this process, we launched our joint working group to make a detailed, responsible and professional analysis of the report, and to give our personal contribution in addressing the recommendations of the report through the shared table of the electoral reform committee.

Without dwelling into the details, because I do believe that others will speak in detail, I want to point out two elements. The first element is the need to overcome tradition and depoliticize the electoral committees. I believe that today we are in time to make this step. It is a step that for the sake of truth has been traditionally required prior to any electoral reform by international partners, and in particular by ODIHR experts, but we all have been reluctant to take this step for a number of reasons that are known to everybody.

There would be the biggest change brought by the new electoral reform, provided that we agreed on this, because unlike other reforms, this is a reform of the rules of the game. We are very aware of the fact that the electoral reform should guarantee all parties, because in every aspect of our work and decision making process the internal situation when we were in opposition is still vivid in our memory.

If in relation to other reforms, consensus is desirable but not absolutely necessary, we believe that for this reform consensus is not only desirable but is also necessary, because we cannot deprive any party of the opportunity to enter the electoral battlefield with clear and equal rules for all, using the will of the majority.

Secondly, I think that the question of electoral advertising needs also to be discussed. This is the most expensive aspect of election campaign, and the darkest one in many respects. Taking into account our shared analysis more than examples, for they are very diverse – there are many democratic countries having the same system, that is to say countries that allow positive or negative advertising without any limitation, many other countries allow a limited-time advertising, and many others that prohibit it at all. There are many examples.

I believe that for us it is necessary to discuss this issue, because in my view, it wouldn’t be wrong to cut this cost for campaign spending and soften the enormous financial burden it represents for parties seriously committed in the race. Of course, intermediate solutions can be found. The SP doesn’t have any definite formula. In this reform, we are very much interested in dealing together with other parties the issue as a whole, without imposing anything but, however, the discussion would be worth it at this point.

In conclusion, I would like to underline the necessity to address in a clearer and possibly more effective way also the issue of election corruption, which compared with the past has shrunk considerably, but it remains a concern, especially in the poorest areas with a predominant traditional mentality of a tribe or a clan.

I am convinced that the administrative and territorial reform has provided us a new and very solid base also to have a better electoral process. I am convinced that the structural transformation of the state organization on the second level has marked a colossal step in the fight against corruption, and has led to a drastic reduction of this phenomenon, which has had a great extent in the second level of governance. Suffice it to look at the history of property and at the mountains with false documents of property unjustly stolen; or at the history of public investments in many areas of the country where, what the balance sheet of the municipalities show doesn’t match with the physical situation of infrastructure, where investments were supposed to be done; and without further ado, at the whole chain of widespread corruption  that certainly has affected enormously also the quality of every electoral process in Albania, whether for local or political elections.

This is not a lot under these new conditions, but it is sure that we have a much healthier and more favourable base to hold higher quality elections. I am convinced that we will succeed in going further with a joint effort, and thanks to the roadmap made available to us by the OSCE / ODIHR through the report, we will do the best, although I have never hidden my point of view that when there is a consensus, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the best is done.

Many thanks!