Political forces in Albania have agreed on three issues regarding the electoral reform: gender quota in party MP candidate list, party financing and shortening electoral period.
On Tuesday, the Electoral Reform Committee agreed to reduce the elections period to one month (from 45 days); elections will be held during one of the Sundays between April 15 to May 15 and October 15 to November 15.
Party MP lists will include a minimum of 30 percent women. One in three consequent candidates in the list will be a woman, to ensure women candidates do not get delegated to the bottom of the list, thus reducing their chances of acquiring an MP seat.
They have agreed that parties will be financed with state funds and private donations, but details will be decided later. The opposition has proposed private funding to be as much as half of state funding. Political parties currently are allowed to spend as much as 10 times the amount of public funding.
Democratic Party representative Oerd Bylykbashi stated that ensuring a free voting process and fair vote counting are the two crucial elements for the opposition.
The next meeting of the Political Council will be held on Thursday, May 28.
