The conflict with OSCE structures casts doubt on the entire democratic process in Albania After the ODIHR’s decision to withdraw its observers from the elections that will be held on Sunday in Albania, another piece of news arrived from Vienna that should not make us happy. Following a meeting that considered the issue of holding the local elections on October 20, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly decided, in support of the decision taken the previous day by its branch, the ODIHR Office, to withdraw its observers too from monitoring the elections in Albania. Such a decision came as a result of our state’s unjustified insistence, which at least appears to give the impression that it seeks to restrict the activity of foreign observers during the electoral process in Albania. Among other things, this makes one think that the leaders of official Albanian politics are “picking a fight” with the OSCE because of its report containing negative facts concerning the violations and irregularities committed in the May 26 elections. Whatever the case, the Albanian government, bearing in mind the circumstances—which consequently could not reflect Albanian political reality—and having been put through a kind of “test bench,” should have understood that tolerant attitudes toward political forces within the country, and especially toward foreigners interested in democratic developments in Albania, were a good way to regain the trust lost among international actors. In this regard, the evident tendency to restrict the activity and number of ODIHR observers who had decided to monitor the electoral process in Albania was entirely inappropriate. It was precisely these restrictions that forced the ODIHR Office to withdraw its observers from the October 20 elections. Equally paradoxical was the atmosphere conveyed by our Interior Minister, Shehu, at the press conference the previous day, when he said that “it doesn’t matter if there are 15 fewer observers.” Such an attitude, regardless of the circumstances in which it was adopted, could not go unnoticed by the OSCE alone, but also by many people in Europe. Shehu and other senior officials must also remember that the Council of Europe admitted Albania subject to certain conditions, some of which it has yet to meet. Thus, Albania’s path toward integration, with further progress in holding elections in our country, is not something to be welcomed. The OSCE’s latest refusal also jeopardizes the normal conduct of elections in Albania. Now, after this, it is the authorities themselves that must be more careful, since even the slightest suspicion of any minor irregularity risks invalidating these elections. But the OSCE’s withdrawal of its observers must also be viewed with great concern from another perspective. It may be followed by further steps, which could also be linked to concerns about the conduct of the elections—steps that could pave the way for isolationist political tendencies, which are very harmful to the current stage of our country’s development. For these reasons, whatever our state’s response may be, the conflict with the OSCE can bring nothing but harmful consequences. bring nothing but harmful consequences.

Hands off Albania! Photo RAY

One of the first calls that inspired the democratic movement of Albanians in its early days was for the de-politicization of the state and its laws, and for establishing their absolute rule over everyone and everything. Summed up by the definition “a state governed by the rule of law,” this aspiration, born of desires that were not clearly conceived and of inexperience, has unfortunately remained a dream for many Albanians, now grown up and consequently even more eager for such a state—one removed from the immediate interests of the party in power and its electoral politics. Had this aspiration not fallen on deaf ears among the party militants who run the Albanian state, the law would not have been turned into a scarecrow that frightens neither bandits nor criminals of every kind. Nor would capitulation to the strange condition for admission to the Council of Europe—blocking the death penalty—have been greeted with such “joy” by ordinary murderers and political assassins. On the other hand, the state would not have had reason to put itself on trial, even with television cameramen, in order to seek last night the legitimate emotions of citizens terrorized by insecurity and by the speculative exploitation of the harshness of our laws that benefits criminals who sow death. Perhaps then there would have been no need to pin on citizens interviewed in the streets the “violation” of the agreement on experimenting with leniency that political maneuvering imposed on our legislation. Albanians have every right to demand death for the one who sows death. The persistent republican message—a message that political opportunists have denounced and continue to portray as extremist harshness—is one they have every right to insist on. But they also have the right to demand accountability from those political forces that, by mocking this people’s old dream of entering Europe, are turning us into experimental guinea pigs ...where even criminals can test their skills. We must enter Europe, but as dignified people who, above all, have the right to protect ourselves with laws.

Another victim of the Shyti gang The Vlora Ardromi in court P. 2

The union orders: Votes for PD P. 3

PD “folds” the candidates Democrats fill the cafés P. 3

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