The Head of OSCE/ODIHR Observer Mission for the May 14th local elections in Albania Audrey Glover met with Prime Minister Edi Rama this Thursday morning.
While there is no official statement as to the focus of their discussions, Glover and Rama met for about 40 minutes in the Socialist Party headquarters, in the first head-to-head meeting between the two, ever since Glover was appointed Head of the OSCE/ODIHR Observer Mission.
A day after the local elections were held, the OSCE/ODIHR came out with a preliminary report on the process, with observers concluding that the elections were generally well-administered, competitive, and held with the participation of key political forces.
The process, however, was characterized by continued polarization between the main political parties and deep division within the opposition. The report raised the issue of pressure on public-sector workers voters and allegations of vote buying, and cases of misuse of state resources at central and local level as some of the main concerns from the election’s process.
The report praised the work done by the Central Election Commission as transparent and efficient, but the stability of lower-level commissions was negatively affected by frequent replacements of members by the nominating parties. Rules for political coverage of the campaign strongly favored the main parties, and the frequent use by media of party-produced content in news programs undermined comprehensive and objective campaign coverage.
Election day was generally peaceful but was negatively affected by numerous cases of party interference in the process as well as technical and procedural problems, widespread group voting, and problems with the secrecy of the vote. The vote count was assessed positively overall, concluded observers in the preliminary report.
