"Election Crime" brought together justice, internationals, institutions, political parties and civil society at one table. Following Prime Minister Rama's warning the day before that SPAK should not monitor parties in the campaign, the head of the Special Prosecution Office, Altin Dumani, chose indirect language to respond.
To those who do not hide the concern of SPAK on the ground, Dumani tells them that it was the Assembly itself, through a resolution, that requested the intervention of this structure regarding electoral crimes.
The joint strategy between SPAK, CEC, and the General Prosecutor's Office focuses on one objective: the timely crackdown on electoral crime.
In a moment of silence from the US, whose embassy was conspicuous by its lack of high-level representatives, diplomats from the EU, Great Britain, and the Netherlands came out to support this Task Force, unanimously underlining the most fundamental problem in the elections, vote buying.
"Vote buying and pressure on voters continues to be a problem in Albania. I welcome the initiative taken by key actors, such as the Central Election Commission, the General Prosecutor's Office, SPAK and the State Police, to coordinate their efforts ahead of the May 11 elections, to address potential electoral crimes, as a guarantee of confidence in these elections," said Silvio Gonzato.
"Real efforts are needed to raise awareness of the long-standing phenomenon of vote-buying and public condemnation of these practices. Then, the addition of safeguards that ensure the secrecy of the vote and prevent voter intimidation, or group voting, which also needs to be addressed. It is also necessary for all parties to become actors of change, not guardians of old privileges or outdated ways of preserving social and political elites," said the British ambassador.
"Here, we see another step on the path to improving elections even more than they already are. We look forward to seeing the result of this exercise for both prevention and punishment. Albania is still far from meeting the standards," said the Dutch ambassador.
This is also acknowledged by the guarantor of the electoral process in Albania, Chief Commissioner Ilirian Celibashi.
The representative of the DP, Vice President Oerd Bylykbashi, accuses the institutions that have failed to establish electoral standards to date. Raising the question of whether Prime Minister Rama is seeking to intimidate the Prosecutors, he received a response from Altin Dumani.
"We have come to this stage from impunity. We are not afraid of the Task Force, nor should the competent bodies be afraid. Should politics and the government be afraid? Yesterday's action was an order for SPAK and the prosecution?", asked Oerd Bylykbashi.
"We have an obligation to investigate the crime, not to interfere in the electoral campaign," Dumani replied.
Damian Gjiknuri, who was in Vienna, was absent from the majority, while Niko Peleshi preferred the agenda of electoral meetings in Korça.
The meeting was not lacking in humor either. What the SPAK leader said to Celibashi without a microphone remained a mystery, while in public, only the effect of the exchange of jokes between the two was visible. (A2 Televizion)
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