Albania: Election campaign launched tomorrow, call for free and fair elections

A day before official election campaign launch in Albania, O presence The SEU in Tirana and the Prosecutor General organised a table for strengthening the role of prosecutors in the fight against election crimes.

Head of O Presence The SEU in Albania, Ambassador Michel Tarran, in his speech said that, “electoral integrity lies at the root of any democratic society”.

The security of free and fair elections requires strong institutions, accountability, transparency and steadfast commitment to the rule of law. Prosecutors, judicial police officers and State Police representatives have the essential task of investigating, final prosecution and fighting electoral crime”, Tarran said. ReportTv, broadcast Periscope.

He stressed that, “although progress has been made in the final reports of the ODIHR parliamentary elections in 2021 and 2023 local ones note that electoral crime -- in particular, the sale of the vote, misuse of administrative resources, and the intimidation of voters continue to be disturbing questions”.

The two reports recommend that law enforcement bodies make every effort to identify and independently investigate all charges of election violations, including vote trading, pressure on voters and misuse of administration resources in a complete, fast and transparent manner”, Tarran said.

The ambassador said that, <x0Votors should be systematically informed of the relevant mechanisms, regarding the bug report, including signal protection and guarantees against revenge”.

Tarran praised preliminary and co-ordinated measures taken by the Prosecutor General's Office, the Central Election Commission, the SPACE and the State Police for challenges related to election crimes.

Your common and individual actions reflect the strong institutional will to protect the integrity of the” elections, he said.

Albania's Prosecutor General, Olsian Cela, said the agreement with the State Police is essential.

The key “, the General Protocol that was reached by the SPAK, the CEC and the General Prosecutor. We have decided that near the CEC there will be representatives of the SPAK and Prosecutor General, a judicial police officer and 1 prosecutor. Each will display readiness to report election crimes”, said Chela.

Also, Tarran welcomed the emphasis that has been placed on transparency and timely public information on election crimes investigations.

“We assess that civil society organisations and media have an important role in implementing independent oversight by meeting institutional efforts to expose electoral crimes and strengthen accountability”, Tarran said.

“In Albanian has an old expression “Gur, stone becomes the fortress”. Each effort contributes to a greater purpose. Our common goal is clear to make sure that election violations, not only are identified but also prosecuted and prosecuted without delay and completeness, thus strengthening public confidence in the democratic process”, the OSCE ambassador said. /Periscopi/