At the invitation of the Albanian authorities, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe deployed a mission to observe the local elections on 14 May 2023 in 61 municipalities. The Congress mission was headed by Stewart Dickson (United-Kingdom, ILDG) and involved 20 Congress observers including 15 Congress members, one expert and four members of the Secretariat from 16 countries.
The deployment on the ground on Election Day was preceded by preparatory meetings in Tirana on 12 and 13 May with representatives of the diplomatic corps, domestic and international NGOs, national associations of local government as well as the media. The Congress delegation further met the Chairperson of the Central Election Commission, Mr Ilirjan Celibashi, and the General Prosecutor of Albania, Mr Olsian Çela.
A briefing with the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Core Team and Long Term Observers was organised, together with the delegation from the EU Parliament. The preparatory programme was rounded off by meetings with candidates running in the local elections and party representatives, as well as members of the Albanian delegation to the Congress.
On Election Day, ten Congress teams were deployed to different cities, towns and adjacent rural areas across the country. “We welcome the peaceful manner in which the elections were conducted. However, long standing matters of concern for the Congress include technical and procedural difficulties on Election Day, low representation of women, both as candidates and in election administration, a lack of accessibility of polling stations for voters with disabilities,” said Stewart Dickson.
“In addition, local elections should be a vehicle for people to decide on local issues’ priorities, which unfortunately, as in previous occasions, was not the case in these elections”, he noted with regret.
The mission was concluded by a joint press conference with OSCE/ODIHR and the European Parliament on Monday, 15 May 2023, at the Tirana International Hotel.
The Congress draft report and recommendation will be submitted for adoption at the 45th Congress session in October.
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