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ODIHR/OSCE to Strengthen Cooperation on Albanian Poll
WARSAW, 3 June 2009 – The Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Ambassador Janez Lenarcic, and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Vice President, Wolfgang Grossruck, today expressed their strong commitment to closely work together during the observation of Albania’s June 28parliamentary elections.
Lenarcic and Grossruck said that in view of the elections’ importance for the consolidation of Albania’s democracy and the country’s further integration into European structures, close co-operation and partnership between ODIHR and the OSCE PA, as well as with other international partners, will be essential for a fact-based and objective assessment.
Albanian political parties has been hostile to foreign observers in several occasions. The government attempted several times to close the permanent OSCE mission in the country claiming that such mission is not anymore necessary. Last week, newspapers in Tirana reported government attempts to oust the head of election observation mission, Audrey Glover of the United Kingdom, based on the fact that Glover was the author of a very critical report on 1996 elections, when today’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha, held the post of the President of Republic. Albania has a permanent OSCE mission since1997, when civil unrest broke out following the collapse of a series of pyramid like investment schemes.
ODIHR deployed a long-term observation mission, headed by Ambassador Audrey Glover in early May and has requested 400 short-term observers from OSCE participating States for election day.
A joint statement of preliminary findings and conclusions will be published the day after the election, on 29 June. The final report on the elections will be issued several weeks after that.
