Yesterday, opposition leader Lulzim Basha presented his party’s proposals regarding the Electoral Reform, which is crucial for the opening of EU accession negotiations next year.
Among other things, Basha proposed:
- Political parties and electoral campaigns funded entirely by the state. Companies who fund political parties or candidates will be excluded from competing for tenders and concessions for a certain amount of time. This is meant to prevent corruption and preferential treatment for companies who fund winning parties in tenders and concessions;
- Purging the electoral process of crime, that is, purging its administration from criminals and preserving the electoral process;
- Buying and selling votes to be considered as electoral corruption, and to be handled by the Special Prosecution Office (SPAK) and the National Bureau of Investigation;
- Biometric identification, electronic voting and vote-counting.
The opposition’s proposals also correspond to the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations regarding the Electoral Reform, which stresses political parties and candidates being funded by private companies with specific interests and persons with criminal precedents.
Basha stated that “no matter what system we go with, a majority one, a proportional one, or a national proportional one, an open and radical discussion is needed in order to determine the best way to represent the will of the citizens.”
Additionally, Basha accused the Prosecution Office of “blocking investigations that prove that crime has been and remains one of the Socialist Party’s electoral pillars.”
