Re: Debatet poltike neper Tv me te vertet per te ardhur keq.
July 3, 2005 New York Times
Albania Prepares to Vote Amid Accusations of Fraud and Intimidation
By NICHOLAS WOOD
TIRANA, Albania, June 30 - Albanians are to vote in parliamentary elections on Sunday in a closely fought race that has been marred by accusations of fraud and voter intimidation.
Fourteen years after the collapse of the Communist government that isolated Albania from the rest of the world, American and European officials say the fairness of the election will determine Albania's chance of closer ties with the European Union and possible membership in NATO.
An estimated 500 international and 4,000 local observers will monitor the balloting on Sunday, in which voters will select 140 members of Parliament. Yet despite the scrutiny, the last days of the campaign have been fraught with difficulties. Among the problems cited by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the international body monitoring the polls and the campaign, are accusations of vote buying, the misuse of state resources and of voters being pressured to support particular candidates.
The main rivals in the race - Prime Minister Fatos Nano's Socialist Party and the Democratic Party, led by Sali Berisha - were running neck and neck, according to an opinion survey taken June 26. The poll, which was carried out by Gallup International on behalf of Mjaft, an Albanian nongovernmental group that is campaigning to get people to vote, gave the Socialists 34 percent and the Democratic Party 35 percent; 1,400 potential voters were questioned and the margin of error was plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
Mr. Nano's government has presided over a sustained period of economic growth - about 5 percent annually for three years - and standards of living have risen. But his critics say that development has been uneven, favoring the rich and certain parts of the country like the capital, Tirana. The opposition, news media and nongovernmental organizations have also accused his administration of widespread corruption.
For Dr. Berisha, the election is seen as his last chance to return to power. Albania was plunged into chaos in 1997 under his government in the wake of a pyramid banking scandal that cost Albanians more than $1 billion in lost savings. Hundreds lost their lives as soldiers deserted their posts and people looted armories. An Italian-led force was sent to restore order.
While the rival parties have waged the slickest election race in Albania's history - the Democrats hired American advisers - the campaign deteriorated in the last four weeks, election observers said.
"The tone of the campaign has become noticeably more rancorous," said an interim report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Election monitors said they were most concerned about the confused state of electoral rolls, and a ploy by each of the two major parties to exploit a loophole in the system that enables them to encourage votes for minority parties to lift their overall alliances in Parliament.
Large numbers of birth certificates, which can been used as proof of voter identification, have been issued before the election. Shkoder, a city in northern Albania, has issued 90,000 since last October.
Whatever the outcome on Sunday, many politicians and analysts agreed that Mr. Nano's and Dr. Berisha's domination of Albanian politics was not likely to survive past the elections.
With results expected to be close, both sides will need coalition partners.
"Berisha will not be able to rule alone, even if he wanted to," said Neritan Sejamini, the Democratic Party candidate for the Tirana region. A third party, the Socialist Integration Movement, which was formed by a breakaway group of Socialists in Parliament, is expected to hold the balance of power.
Its leader, former Prime Minister Ilir Meta, contends that the end of the Socialist and Democrats duopoly of power would improve the chance of political and economic change.
"It will break this two-party system," Mr. Meta said.
Most voters, meanwhile, have their minds focused on more basic needs, like water, electricity and paved roads. "Nothing we have is secure," said Mereme Lila, 50, a homemaker in Sauk, one of dozens of new suburbs to have sprung up on the edge of Tirana.
Constant power failures and the lack of local government permits to plan new housing is a major concern in this and similar neighborhoods. Power supplies have been restored to the district in the week before the election.
"When the voting is over they will cut it off again, you'll see," said Mrs. Lila's neighbor who declined to give her name. Official results are not expected before Tuesday.