On June 28, the citizens of Albania go the polls and the stakes are high, reports Kate Holman
Officially, campaigning for Albania’s general election started at the end of May. However, the candidates have been engaged in a furious battle of words for months.
The two main parties – the Socialists, led by Edi Rama, Tirana’s charismatic mayor, and the ruling Democratic Party, headed by Prime Minister Sali Berisha – are running neck and neck. Both are campaigning on a platform of change, even though Berisha has been in power since the country’s last elections in 2005, which failed to meet democratic standards, according to international observers.
Ilir Meta, a former Prime Minister who launched his own party, the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) following a rift with the Socialist Party in 2004, is widely acknowledged as the kingmaker. Although opinion polls give him just 6 per cent of the vote, if neither of the major parties gets a decisive majority, his backing will be crucial to forming a government.
The opposition has attacked the current government for using taxpayers’ money to purchase “public information” slots on television, publicising the Berisha administration’s achievements before other parties could start their own campaigns. In turn, the Democratic Party has branded Edi Rama a “coward” for refusing to resign his position as mayor in advance of the ballot.
Hanging on the smooth running of the poll are the country’s international reputation, prospects for steady economic and social progress, and also its hopes of European Union membership. When Albania lodged its formal application in April, EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn warned that the elections would be a “critical test of political stability”. As a result, thousands of independent monitors will be scrutinising the vote.
Concern has focused on the issuing of identity cards to the estimated 700,000 Albanians without passports, with the aim of eliminating electoral fraud. The Socialists, who claim that the initial $20 fee amounted to an unacceptable “poll tax” and that 300,000 voters may not get their documents in time, threatened to call for the elections to be postponed.
Albania’s population has not had an easy ride since the end of the Communist regime in 1991 and the mood of many ordinary citizens is one of cynicism tinged with bitterness. “For 18 years, we have had the same people – people who cared about personal interest, not the country”, says Endri Fuga of the Socialist Party. Within the past eight months alone, three members of Berisha’s government have been charged with abuse of power.
With highway construction work currently hampering drivers the length and breadth the country, many Albanians shrug dismissively. “Election roads”, they sigh, predicting that this activity will rapidly come to an end when the voting is done.
Edi Rama is the only leadership candidate who has not already been Prime Minister and he remains popular, especially among the young, for the changes he has brought to Tirana.
The parties have sought to improve their image by including new names on their electoral lists, with more women and young people, and celebrities such as two contestants from Albania’s version of the Big Brother TV show. However, journalist Sebi Alla, of the news magazine Revista Klan, doubts they will be given any power once the elections are over.
The country’s struggle for European integration has suffered several setbacks in recent months. A bilateral EU-Albania council meeting in Brussels in May again highlighted widespread corruption as a “particularly serious problem”. At the same time, Amnesty International attacked the Albanian government’s record on combating domestic violence and the trafficking of women. And an eagerly awaited EU report on visa-free travel for Balkan citizens picked out Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina for failing to meet required standards.
And yet there ihas been visible progress in Albania. This year, the country was accepted into Nato membership. This had wide – although not universal – support among the population. In the past three years, the communication network has improved noticeably. The mountains of rubbish that used to scar the outskirts of towns are gone, power cuts are less frequent, foreign tourists more abundant and generally there is a greater sense of well-being and security.
Among the challenges still to be met – including better health and education services – Sebi Alla identifies unemployment as the biggest problem. “Albanians accept some level of corruption as inevitable”, he argues, “but they don’t accept unemployment. The country’s main export is people.”
While EU membership is popular, with 83 per cent of Albanians in favour, visa-free travel is the real prize. There is a growing feeling that, given the progress it has made, Albania, a European country, is being unfairly penalised when compared with EU member states such as Romania and Bulgaria. “After 50 years of imprisonment under the Hoxha regime, we are now imprisoned by visa requirements”, according to one critic.
Albania is a youthful country – almost one-third of the population is under 18 – and on June 28 there will be an estimated 300,000 young, first-time voters. Their right to travel and study abroad – and then bring their skills back home – is crucial to the country’s development.
Alexandra Stiglmayer, a senior Balkan analyst with the Brussels-based European Stability Initiative, questions the EU’s approach. “It depends on whether the European Commission will lean towards rewarding the impressive recent progress or wish to be really strict, deciding not to give a ‘yes’ until all the benchmarks are met”, she says.
Well-educated young Albanians are beginning to reject the emigration option. Solinda, a young professional who has lived in both Britain and United States, believes that, rather than simply responding to conditions imposed by the EU and other international bodies, Albania’s leaders must take greater responsibility, acting in the interests of the country and its people. “It is time for us to show we can do things here for ourselves”, she concludes.
About The Author
