Albania’s political crisis, a deadlock in the way of European integration

europe's world
 02/06/2011
Author: Alba Cela
Recommendations for EU involvement in Albania

Introduction
On May 10th the observing mission of OSCE/ODHIR called the local elections process of May 8th in Albania “competitive, transparent”[1] and admitted that the Election Day was relatively calm. However they emphasized once again the aggressive climate of the electoral campaign which marked the process and influenced some of its problems. Few could believe that after one of the most violent and incident prone campaign that Albania has seen in roughly twenty years of democracy, a normal election day would follow. However that did not turn out to be good news either since A very slow counting process followed raising political tensions especially in the two largest cities, Tirana and Durres. The final decision of who is going to be Tirana’a mayor stands now on the hands of the Electoral College, the highest authority to decide on electoral issues, since the Central Election Committee reversed the first results which gave Edi Rama, current opposition leader and mayor, a thin victory of plus ten votes. In a disputed process contested by the opposition members at the CEC, part of the votes cast in the capital were recounted and gave a preliminary victory to the other contender, Lulzim Basha. Protesters including MPs camped outside the CEC gates for days and the tensions have brought Albania as the Economist argues “on the brink of a return to violence.”[2] With the rationale that given the ongoing situation there can be no fruitful discussions about Albania’s EU integration, President of the EU Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule cancelled their scheduled visits to Tirana.....more....
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