The blue uniforms are bursting into celebration: we, too, will enjoy ourselves like everyone else Today is the last rally in “Skënderbej” Square. They will resume at the beginning of the year

A solution does not appear to be near. All the alternatives, which differ greatly from one another, have already been put on the table. From the position of the PD to that of the PS, there is a whole range of other proposals, among which none appears preferable. The PD is calling for the local elections to be investigated by foreigners, for them to be partially repeated, and then for talks to begin on improving the infrastructure. This is also the proposal supported by the other parties around the PD. Several things are missing from this proposal, such as under which law, with which electoral commission (excluding the government), and using which lists the partial elections would be held. Not to mention the fact that an investigation three months after the elections is almost impossible. By this logic, the PD will never sit down at the table to discuss the general elections. The proposal closest to the PD’s is that of the Republican Party, which calls for a political round table where the parties would agree to change the CEC, choose new commission members, and amend the laws and drafts of the round table that were approved by Parliament without any changes. What is missing from this proposal is how the CEC would be changed and how the new members would be chosen. As for their removal, there is a proposal from the PS; choosing new members, however, would never win the parties’ consensus, since their number is odd and either the government or the opposition would end up in the majority on the commission. The United Right has almost the same proposal. The CEC’s proposal is to hold a popular referendum to amend the Constitution, so as to break the deadlock over changing the CEC. What is missing from this proposal is the body that would organize the referendum, which under the Constitution would have to be the CEC—that is, the supposed victim of the referendum itself. The last is the PS’s proposal, which has no alternative to its demand for a change in the law setting out the criteria for CEC members, thereby changing those criteria. This is because the law is not retroactive and, under the Constitution, CEC members are guaranteed a seven-year term. The other difference between the government and the opposition concerns electoral redistricting: one side is calling for voters to be registered before the districts are drawn, while the other wants the districts drawn before registration. Given such major differences, the situation appears worse than it was at the beginning of the year, when the local elections were being prepared, because back then there was no CEC to change and no electoral redistricting to carry out. The round tables were more credible. Now nothing remains but to wait for the time of the “strong solution,” which, as always, will come from abroad with some special representative.

After New Year, 80% of Albanians will have mobile phones AMC Greek director, Stefanos Oktopadas. Photo: P. ILO

Page 6 A different kind of festival Light music at the annual celebration Page 21 The Olympic Games “Athina 2004”: the roads lead to Tirana Page 17

The government is trying to repair what the most ignorant deputy of the free media destroyed Pages 4–5