At its 43rd Plenary Session, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe today discussed an information report on partial local elections in Albania held on 6 March 2022 following a hybrid election observation mission carried out on 24 and 25 February and 8 March.
The Congress expressed satisfaction with the orderly and well-administered elections and with the campaign in which pertinent rules were generally respected by all stakeholders. “The Congress delegation strongly welcomed the fact that the election results were accepted by all contestants and were not contested, for the first time in thirty years in Albania”, highlighted the Rapporteur Stewart Dickson (United Kingdom, ILDG).
However, the Congress report also identified several areas where there is still room for improvement, notably regarding the implementation of previous recommendations by the Venice Commission which remain to be addressed, including measures to depoliticise lower-level election commissions and still existing criminal liability for defamation. The report invites the Albanian authorities to address these long-standing recommendations and increase efforts to promote the participation of women candidates in mayoral elections.
Furthermore, the Rapporteur suggested measures to ensure free conditions for media reporting and safeguards to prevent the misuse of administrative resources, to provide a level playing field for all contestants.
The Rapporteur concluded that he hopes “that positive change achieved during these partial elections will be continued in 2023, such as for instance all parties participating in the elections and the acceptation by all contestants of the final results”.
Mediabox interview with Stewart Dickson
See also: Congress to carry out a remote mission to observe partial local elections in Albania
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43rd Session
Agenda – Web file – Multimedia (Live webcasts, interviews, videos and photo)
