The head of the ODIHR monitoring mission in Albania, Ambassador Lamberto Zannier, analyzed the findings of the preliminary monitoring report in an exclusive interview with A2 CNN. The diplomat stated that every violation articulated in the report, such as voter intimidation or pressure on the public administration, was ascertained by observers on the ground.
Asked what most concerned the head of the international monitoring mission, Zannier stated that in some cases, the electoral competition was not conducted under equal conditions, underlining that the ruling party was more advantaged also because it controls the vast majority of municipalities in the country.
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As you can tell from my face and eyes, following an electoral campaign and the entire electoral process requires a lot of energy. How was your mission in Albania? Would you describe it as intense?
Of course, I feel the same way you feel today. It was very intense and very tiring. Of course, I learned a lot about Albania and Albanians. I felt very good during the monitoring mission. I traveled, met representatives of institutions, representatives of political parties, civil society. I traveled from the north, from Himara where I saw issues related to minorities in the elections, to Shkodra, from Elbasan to Durrës. So, in addition to work, I also discovered the beauties of the country, such as in Gjirokastër and Berat.
I also had the opportunity to meet people, to better understand their concerns. So, this required a lot of energy, but I believe it was worth the investment to better understand the dynamics, the problems, how people feel and how people are involved in this important electoral process in Albania.
You have been in Albania for a few weeks now and have had the opportunity to get to know the country’s political culture better. As you may have noticed, it is common for the losing party to not recognize the results – and sometimes even go so far as to strongly contest them. Based on what you have seen and heard so far, do you think these political statements reflect the reality on the ground?
I don't want to talk about progress or steps back. We are not here to quantify the way Albania is progressing. We are focused on the problems themselves. We observed them, we saw them, the long-term observers were the ones who spent more time in points far away from Tirana, they got information from local interlocutors, from the people and created a clearer picture of what was happening and where the problems were.
Of course we had monitoring, we saw media reports on events in the territory and they gave me an idea of what messages are being given to citizens who vote. And by combining all these elements, we can paint a picture that is not all black and white, but contains a certain amount of gray and in some areas we feel that we should be even more concerned, while in some other areas, we have expressed even more support regarding the organization of the elections, such as the CEC, which we found to be very positive cooperation.
In the overall picture, I believe that it is summarized in the title of today's conference that the elections were organized in the right way, but as a result of pressures and problems, it turns out that there was not an equal competition between political parties, where some parties had advantages compared to others.
In several other cases, we saw the government gain an advantage in the electoral race by using state resources since the ruling party runs a large number of municipalities in the country and it is easier to control a country where a large number of municipalities govern, which leads to abuse of resources.
Ambassador, a question that may sound somewhat personal: if the elections in your country were held in the same way as here in Albania, would you feel calm or worried?
I would ask the same question to you, I think there are a number of issues that would need to be addressed and I would try to identify them and talk about them. I would welcome, because this is something that I did not see here, debates between political forces and before the elections, not only after the elections but also before the elections, to identify the issues so that voters are informed about them and to make sure that when people vote, they also judge on these issues that they have identified.
You explained the concerns in color, gray and black. What are the main concerns of the ODIHR regarding the elections?
They are listed in the report, like the pressure or intimidation of people is certainly something we don't like to see and for people to come to us and tell us that they feel scared or intimidated is not even relevant to the situation in general. They should be free to participate in political events and not be forced. This discourages them from participating in certain events. Nothing threatening, but certainly something compelling that something should be done and something not.
Did the ODIHR have the opportunity to see such violations?
Yes! Being on the ground you get to see many events. When you see buses you get to ask people how they came here and some told us that we were forced to participate in this activity. Of course we do not see only one issue but several other elements. Of course the sources of information are several, such as political parties who express their concerns. And of course they are not reported directly, but verified, we do a fact check if they are based and in certain cases they become part of the issues that need more attention.
What, in your opinion, are the most urgent improvements that need to be made to the electoral process in Albania?
One of the main functions of this mission is to come up with concrete recommendations before it ends. This mission is not over as we will stay in Albania for another week to see the end of the vote count and to see the process of any complaints that may arise. Then we will publish the final report, as what was discussed today is the preliminary report, where there will also be recommendations that will reflect what we have seen and we will base our prioritization on the conclusions of which areas need improvement. Things that you see already in the report as the need for a comprehensive and complete electoral reform. So this is already part of the recommendations, along with similar issues, so you can guess for yourself what the recommendations might be. But we will publish the final list of recommendations with the final report. (A2 Televizion)
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