COPENHAGEN, 20 June 2017 – An OSCE PA delegation of 45 observers, among them more than 30 members of parliament from 18 OSCE countries, will observe the 25 June parliamentary elections in Albania, side-by-side with almost 300 OSCE observers deployed by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has appointed Roberto Battelli (MP, Slovenia) as Special Co-ordinator to lead the short-term OSCE observer mission. Marietta Tidei (MP, Italy) will serve as Head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly delegation to the mission.
“These elections offer a path forward for Albania to emerge from a political crisis. My fellow observers and I will be following the electoral process in great detail and we look forward to seeing how this vote plays out,” said Special Co-ordinator Battelli.
Battelli, who serves as OSCE PA Vice-President and as the Assembly’s Special Representative on South East Europe, visited Albania last month, holding a series of meetings with heads of political parties and national leaders, including Prime Minister Edi Rama, Speaker of the Assembly Ilir Meta and Head of the OSCE PA’s Albanian Delegation Arta Dade. Meetings were also held with opposition leader Lulzim Basha and Denar Biba, Chair of Albania’s Central Election Commission.
Battelli also met in Tirana with Amb. Bernd Borchardt, Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania, and Amb. Peter Tejler, who is heading the ODIHR election observation mission.
Head of OSCE PA Delegation Marietta Tidei has been PA Rapporteur of the Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment since 2014. She has observed elections in 11 countries.
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has observed elections in Albania in 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2013. In this year’s elections, OSCE observers will work closely with observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.
The findings of the observers, who are assessing the elections based on criteria in the OSCE’s 1990 Copenhagen Document, will be delivered at a press conference in Tirana on 26 June.