Once Again Appeal on the Vote-Counting Groups

Albanian Helsinki Committee and some non-profit organizations, immediately following the amendments to the Electoral Code, submitted a letter to the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament, Mr. Servet Pëllumbi.  In the letter, it was argued and suggested the need for amending article 95/2, item 1, where it is stated that ELC-s, the vote-counting groups shall be set up not later than 2 hours prior to the closure of the voting process.

ELC is lawfully allowed to create up to 5 vote-counting groups, as a result in the 100 zones, 500 groups can be set up with 3500 members and 500 secretaries. Regarding this approximate figure and the important duty that the law imposes on the vote-counting groups AHC shares the opinion that the establishment of the vote-counting groups 2 hours prior to the closure of voting would create various irregularities.

The Parliament of Albania, in response to our letter, launched an initiative to change the article 95/2 item 1 of the Electoral Code. Under these conditions, AHC considered as necessary to address CEC despite the fact that it had not adopted a guideline that obliged ELC-s to define the number of the vote-counting groups 5 days in advance and to communicate this to the respective political parties that were entitled to proposals. To AHC, this deadline guarantees, neither the confirmation of the data about each proposed member, nor the qualitative training of the vote-counting group. This is the reason why AHC suggests the review of the CEC guideline and also the setting of other deadlines both for ELC-s and the political parties. But it is obvious that CEC did not find it reasonable to review its own guideline.

Two days ago we got acquainted with the report of the Head of OSCE office in Tirana Mr. Vaçek, submitted to the OSCE Joint Council in Wien, which tackled the election issues in Albania. The fact that attracted the attention is that among other things it conveyed the concern that the law provides for (meaning our Electoral Code) the delayed appointment of the vote-counting groups, that is a potential hindrance to a speedy and correct procedure (see newspaper “Albania”, dated June, 4. 2005).

And it is precisely the overcome of this obstacle, that has been tackled by AHC since February of this year and through the letters and public releases it suggested that this problem should be seriously assessed at the interest of the good progress of the elections, to find speedy and appropriate solutions. But so far no steps have been taken and no measures have been defined to prevent the potential and harmful consequences.

AHC considers that even under these conditions, when there are only 27 days from the elections of July, 3 there are still possibilities to encounter these difficulties. But to this end, it is necessary that ELC-s urgently define the number of the vote-counting groups that would be set up and immediately forward this decision to the proposing political parties, whereas the latter within few days shall submit their proposals to ELC.

AHC also thinks that if the aforementioned approach is used there will be real possibilities to observe the legal requirements related to the data that the person needs to meet if proposed and appointed as a member and a secretary of this group. Besides this, this would also enable the qualitative training of the vote-counting group members, an indispensable condition for the correct application of the law, which would assist in respecting the legal deadline for the announcement of the election result from the ELC-s.

 On this occasion, AHC appeals once again to CEC that while performing its enforcement powers and especially while implementing article 153 of the Constitution, it shall take all the necessary measures in order not to compromise this very significant aspect of the elections.