OSCE-ODIHR report for May 11/ Ekrem Spahiu raises concern: Elections were certified when they were not free

2025-10-26 14:16:00, Politikë CNA

OSCE-ODIHR report for May 11/ Ekrem Spahiu raises concern: Elections were

The Co-Chair of the Movement for National Development, Ekrem Spahiu, commented on the OSCE/ODIHR report on the May 11 elections.

Spahiu expressed concern that the OSCE/ODIHR certified elections that were neither free, nor fair, nor credible, nor accepted by the competitors.

He stated that the report essentially has no connection to the real Albanian reality before, during and after the elections in Albania.

Spahiu raises concern that the OSCE/ODIHR has so far not insisted on implementing its recommendations, and this has led to the situation in which Albania finds itself today.

"Finally, after five and a half months, the OSCE/ODIHR report on the May 11, 2025 elections was released and the "Movement for National Development" expresses its concern that the OSCE/ODIHR, as always, certified the elections, where they were neither free, nor fair, nor credible, nor accepted by the competitors. From this report, the two main parties that have full responsibility for the unimaginable regression that the electoral process in Albania has suffered from election to election emerged victorious, as always.

The Albanians and democracy are lost because all the crises in our country stem from the disrespect of the vote. The "Movement for National Development" as a subject with a clear national and democratic identity, as well as with impeccable morals towards the voters, has consistently had the Electoral Reform with its four pillars as its main priority:

Equality of vote, with a national proportional system or 4 electoral zones

Open lists

Electronic voting and counting

The diaspora vote

We have made all of this known and clear in Parliament and outside it, to state institutions that are legally responsible for elections, to internationals, and in particular to the OSCE, as a major concern for democracy.

The report essentially has no connection to the real Albanian reality before, during and after the elections in Albania. The report describes the electoral process as having minor defects, but it does not write anything about the brutality of the government and the entire state. It does not write that the vote was rigged before the elections and that voters were intimidated.

It does not mention the doubling of the administration before the voting day. It superficially passes over the government infrastructure of patronage, the illegal criminal use of personal data by the government, the involvement of gangs in the elections, a phenomenon that does not occur in any other country. The report ignores the problem that the vote is dictated, manipulated, bought, deformed and alienated by the party-state.

As soon as the report was released, the two main parties were very pleased with the report and accepted it as very good. On the same day the report was released, they smiled and declared their agreement to establish a Special Parliamentary Commission for Electoral Reform, which will be tasked with drafting legal amendments and implementing the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations.

The OSCE/ODIHR report, in its recommendations, are the same concerns that the LZHK has consistently raised and has told these observers before the May 11 elections.

The most important recommendations are:

Transforming the system entirely with open lists or changing the entire system.

Administration no longer with a political election commissioner.

Transparency and strengthening of oversight of campaign spending.

Our concern is that the OSCE/ODIHR has so far not insisted on implementing its recommendations and that is why we have reached this situation regarding the elections in Albania.

"Let's hope that the latest recommendations are implemented for the next elections," said Spahiu./ CNA