Albania Uneasy over "Hasty" Voting Reforms
| 27 May 2008 | By Fatjona Mejdini in Tirana
Constitutional experts and small parties are
having second thoughts about changes to the election system, which appear to
have left voters feeling alienated.
Twenty-year-old Stela Basha, a student at the University of Tirana, has voted only once in her life.
But she is not certain she will ever vote again.
“I voted three years ago in the parliamentary elections because I felt a personal sympathy for the MP, even though I did not care for the party he was affiliated with,” she said.
“He gathered me and my friends and outlined his plan for young people in the area in which I live and many of us ended up voting for him,” she continued.
But after parliament passed constitutional amendment in April, radically changing the way Albanians elect their representatives, many voters feel confused and disenfranchised.
Surveys indicate that fewer Albanians now intend to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2009.
Experts also question the value of the changes to the voting system. Some believe they were enacted hastily and without due consultation. Several smaller parliamentary parties are seeking a referendum on the amendments.
The changes were agreed by the two biggest political parties in Albania; the right-of-centre Democratic Party, of the Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, and the Socialist Party, headed by the Mayor of Tirana, Edi Rama.
In essence, the reforms transformed the parliamentary voting from a first-past-the-post system in which voters selected individual candidates to a system based on regional proportional representation.
Under the new rules, voters no longer cast ballots for candidates of their choice but only for parties, which then nominate their representatives to parliament.
Even some of the deputies who voted for the amendments now have second thoughts about their decision.
Prec Zogaj, one of the longest-serving deputies in parliament, feels the direct connection between voters and their elected representatives has been lost. “It is something that will remain as a fault on my political conscience,” Zogaj said.
Zogaj said he had backed the changes along with his party colleagues as a result of the problems created by the former electoral code, which was widely criticized by watchdog groups and international observers.
“We broke a tradition in Albania created since the end of communist rule in 1991, which offered not only a party logo for the voters to select but also a human being,” he added.
However, Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who initiated the amendments, dismissed such criticism arguing that the changes contribute to the political stability in Albania.
“These changes will spell an end to political crisis,” he told parliament after the law was passed.
Although experts did not dispute the legality of the process by which the constitution has been amended, many feel the changes were pushed through too quickly.
“The changes made to the constitution this time around were sudden,” Njazi Jaho, a leading constitutional expert, said. “Because the founding document of the state was being altered, they should have submitted [these changes] to a wider, all-inclusive debate."
Jaho contends that constitutional amendment ought not to have been passed before feedback from interests groups had been gathered and studied.
“The constitution is not the monopoly of two political parties and as such it is necessary to consult experts and interests groups before changes are made,” he explained.
The abrupt change towards a system of regionally-based proportional representation has also left the smaller allies of the Democrats and Socialists feeling unhappy.
They fear they will lose out under new rules obliging parties to cross a 10-per-cent threshold and are requesting that the changes be put to referendum.
Petrit Vasili, secretary general of the Socialist Movement for Integration, Albania’s third-largest party, said the method by which the changes were made, as well as their content, signalled a step back for democracy.
“The constitutional changes send the wrong message to Albanians, inside the country or abroad, who had begun to believe that democracy was sprouting roots in the country,” Vasili maintained.
Vasisli added that his party, along with other minor opposition parties, had now set in motion the procedure for a petition on a referendum.
“We will push for a referendum as hard as we can, gathering strength to undo the destruction of the Albanian constitution,” he continued.
The rush to change the voting system has also left many ordinary people feeling confused, polls indicate.
A recent study by the Institute for Development and Research Alternatives, funded by USAID, showed the number of voters intending to vote in the next election had dropped by 13 per cent on the figure from last year.
“Last time, I voted for the deputy, because I felt he understood us on a human level,” Stela, the student from the University of Tirana, explained. “I don’t feel anything about a party logo and next time I may as well sit at home."
Fatjona Mejdini is a reporter for the daily newspaper "Koha Jone". Balkan Insight is BIRN's online publication. This article was made possible through the support of the National Endowment for Democracy, NED.
“I voted three years ago in the parliamentary elections because I felt a personal sympathy for the MP, even though I did not care for the party he was affiliated with,” she said.
“He gathered me and my friends and outlined his plan for young people in the area in which I live and many of us ended up voting for him,” she continued.
But after parliament passed constitutional amendment in April, radically changing the way Albanians elect their representatives, many voters feel confused and disenfranchised.
Surveys indicate that fewer Albanians now intend to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2009.
Experts also question the value of the changes to the voting system. Some believe they were enacted hastily and without due consultation. Several smaller parliamentary parties are seeking a referendum on the amendments.
The changes were agreed by the two biggest political parties in Albania; the right-of-centre Democratic Party, of the Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, and the Socialist Party, headed by the Mayor of Tirana, Edi Rama.
In essence, the reforms transformed the parliamentary voting from a first-past-the-post system in which voters selected individual candidates to a system based on regional proportional representation.
Under the new rules, voters no longer cast ballots for candidates of their choice but only for parties, which then nominate their representatives to parliament.
Even some of the deputies who voted for the amendments now have second thoughts about their decision.
Prec Zogaj, one of the longest-serving deputies in parliament, feels the direct connection between voters and their elected representatives has been lost. “It is something that will remain as a fault on my political conscience,” Zogaj said.
Zogaj said he had backed the changes along with his party colleagues as a result of the problems created by the former electoral code, which was widely criticized by watchdog groups and international observers.
“We broke a tradition in Albania created since the end of communist rule in 1991, which offered not only a party logo for the voters to select but also a human being,” he added.
However, Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who initiated the amendments, dismissed such criticism arguing that the changes contribute to the political stability in Albania.
“These changes will spell an end to political crisis,” he told parliament after the law was passed.
Although experts did not dispute the legality of the process by which the constitution has been amended, many feel the changes were pushed through too quickly.
“The changes made to the constitution this time around were sudden,” Njazi Jaho, a leading constitutional expert, said. “Because the founding document of the state was being altered, they should have submitted [these changes] to a wider, all-inclusive debate."
Jaho contends that constitutional amendment ought not to have been passed before feedback from interests groups had been gathered and studied.
“The constitution is not the monopoly of two political parties and as such it is necessary to consult experts and interests groups before changes are made,” he explained.
The abrupt change towards a system of regionally-based proportional representation has also left the smaller allies of the Democrats and Socialists feeling unhappy.
They fear they will lose out under new rules obliging parties to cross a 10-per-cent threshold and are requesting that the changes be put to referendum.
Petrit Vasili, secretary general of the Socialist Movement for Integration, Albania’s third-largest party, said the method by which the changes were made, as well as their content, signalled a step back for democracy.
“The constitutional changes send the wrong message to Albanians, inside the country or abroad, who had begun to believe that democracy was sprouting roots in the country,” Vasili maintained.
Vasisli added that his party, along with other minor opposition parties, had now set in motion the procedure for a petition on a referendum.
“We will push for a referendum as hard as we can, gathering strength to undo the destruction of the Albanian constitution,” he continued.
The rush to change the voting system has also left many ordinary people feeling confused, polls indicate.
A recent study by the Institute for Development and Research Alternatives, funded by USAID, showed the number of voters intending to vote in the next election had dropped by 13 per cent on the figure from last year.
“Last time, I voted for the deputy, because I felt he understood us on a human level,” Stela, the student from the University of Tirana, explained. “I don’t feel anything about a party logo and next time I may as well sit at home."
Fatjona Mejdini is a reporter for the daily newspaper "Koha Jone". Balkan Insight is BIRN's online publication. This article was made possible through the support of the National Endowment for Democracy, NED.
