The Ambassador of the OSCE Presence in Albania, Michel Tarran, stated from Pogradec that the process of electoral and territorial reform is in the hands of Albanian institutions and that the organization he represents does not interfere in the definition of political or electoral models. He stated that the OSCE Presence has supported the work of the special commission for reform, but stressed that the process has been slow and time has been wasted, although it has now resumed.
According to him, an important part of the work has also been the issue of financing political parties, which he described as an essential element of democracy. “We are not here to propose a specific model. There are different models and each country has its own system,” he said, emphasizing that the OSCE’s role is only to assist in the implementation of OSCE recommendations.
He added that decision-making on the electoral system belongs only to Albanians, including issues such as the number of deputies in the Assembly, where according to him there are different arguments for and against reducing or increasing the number. “It is an issue for Albanians and it is not our job to comment on the technical aspects of the system,” said the ambassador, emphasizing that each country has its own reality and institutional needs. Regarding the question of the territorial map, the ambassador replied: “I am not sure that you will go with the new territorial map, I do not know, we will see, so far I have not heard that a new map will be ready and I know that here too there are different opinions, it is not my job to enter into this debate.”
On the question of the dissatisfaction of small parties regarding the electoral reform that is dominated by large parties, the ambassador states: "This type of discussion exists in other countries as well, and I can still understand the decision of those parties that are considered not to be properly respected and that are not given the opportunity to develop. But it must be said that there are many countries where the system is based on the principle of two parties, a large party or a coalition of large parties on the one hand and a coalition of large parties on the other.
Or two parties, let's not talk about Europe, but in the United States there are two parties, and all the efforts that have been made by other actors to create other small parties have not worked there and none of them means that the United States is not a democratic country. That is, there are different systems. We are, we can consider that we are still in a transition period in Albania. I think they need to find a system that is more suitable for your country. I don't know, there are periods that have lasted longer. The Ottoman Empire has been here for 500 years, communism has been here for 45 years. Transition does not mean that there is no development. Development continues and I think that transition will continue, and it continues in our country as well, in our country the electoral system is also changed sometimes. I am French, you know that in France we have had some electoral reforms and we are discussing them. In France there are some parties that are demanding a change in the elections because they consider that the current system is not suitable.
