Proposal for changing article 95/2 of the Election Code

 To:                Mr. Servet Pëllumbi

                        Speaker of the Assembly of Albania

                        Assembly of Albania

From:              Albanian Helsinki Committee

                        Center for Civic Legal Initiatives

                        Center for Parliamentary Studies

                        Society for Democratic Culture

                        Albanian Center for Human Rights

Subject:            Proposal for changing article 95/2 of the Election Code

Tirana, 3 March 2005

Honorable Mr. Pëllumbi,

On March 2, 2005, the Albanian Helsinki Committee organized a round table discussion with representatives of NPOs, of some state institutions as well as specialists of different fields. The purpose of the round table discussion was acquaintance with some amendments made to the Electoral Code through Law No. 9341, dated 10.1.2005.

Representatives of some NPOs in the meeting expressed their concern regarding the contents of article 95/2 of the Electoral Code, which talks about the setup of vote counting groups. This provision reads: "With regard to the counting of votes at the electoral unit, upon decision of the ZEC or the LGEC, not later than two hours before the end of the polls … 5 counting groups are set up and a secretary is appointed for each." The very same provision emphasizes: "The chairman, vice chairman, and secretary of the counting group are appointed according to procedures and criteria established for ZECs…."

NPO representatives present in the round table discussion, following a discussion on the issue, decided to turn to the Assembly of Albania with a suggestion to amend article 95/2 of the Electoral Code by submitting the following arguments:

1. Should counting groups be set up not later than two hours before the polls close (as required in the law), the training of members would be too difficult, not to say impossible, or there would be only a formal and not qualitative training, which would be accompanied by harmful consequences.

2. The lawmaker has not anticipated any deadline until when the respective political parties should submit their proposals for members of these groups. It should be mentioned that if every ZEC were to appoint 5 groups plus the secretary of the group, it would mean that a total of 4,000 persons are needed for all 100 constituencies.

In this regard, there is a negative experience already with these elections. Thus, the law requires that ZECs are set up not later than March 3^rd, 2005, but in fact, the parties are yet to submit their proposals.

3. The vote counting groups are set up according to procedures and criteria determined for ZECs, provided for in articles 34, 34/1 and 34/2 of the Electoral Code, whereas the CEC, as mentioned in item 5 of article 34 of the Code, appoints the ZEC member not later than 15 days from the submission of proposals, when it finds that these are in keeping with the relevant provisions of the electoral Code.

In this regard, we are also concerned over the fact that the ZECs will not have the possibility to verify whether the members of the vote counting groups and their secretaries will meet the criteria and conditions provided for in the above provisions or not. The lack of such verification may also be accompanied by harmful consequences.

The very reasons above led the representatives of some NPOs to turn to the Assembly of Albania in order for it to review the possibility of amending item 1 of article 95 of the Electoral Code as follows: "For the vote count at the electoral unit level, upon decision of the ZEC or the LGEC, up to 5 counting groups of 7 members and one secretary each shall be established. Every counting group shall count the votes of at least three polling stations. Proposals for group members by the respective political parties shall be done not later than 40 days before the election day, whereas the ZECs shall take the decision for their appointment within 10 days from the submission of proposals."

Stemming from the desire to see a good conduct of the electoral process and considering the vote count a very significant and delicate moment, we express our belief that our suggestion will become the target of review.

With special respect:

Albanian Helsinki Committee

Center for Civic Legal Initiatives

Center for Parliamentary Studies

Society for Democratic Culture

Albanian Center for Human Rights