Facebook has called on Albanian political parties to be transparent in how they finance their political advertising prior to April’s election.
A statement from the social media giant reported on by AP said “all electoral and political ads in Albania must come from authorized advertisers and include “paid for by” disclaimers. They also must be authorised in the country.
The topic of campaign financing in Albania is a complex one. In November, the Chief Commissioner of the Central Election Commission Ilirjan Celibashi acknowledged the presence of dirty money in the financing of political parties.
“We should not have the illusion that the political party money relationship will be transparent. The CEC cannot verify where this money comes from and its origin,” he said on “In a Few Words” on Euronews last night.
He added that there is not full transparency and it’s important that rules are followed. Money should come from honest and legitimate businesses, he said, not the underworld.
When asked to clarify, Celibashi said that to date, the CEC has not sent a single political party to the prosecutor’s office for offences related to illegal financing.
The same month, the now ex- Interior Minister Sander Lleshaj said the government is “doing its best” not to use drug money by criminal organizations in the election campaign.
According to a 2021 US State Department report on financial crime, in 2020, the year before the election, the government made “no significant progress” against money laundering and financial crime. It noted that drug money from Albania and Albanian gangs in Europe was laundered in the country. The report added the country remains vulnerable to money laundering because of corruption, weak legal and governmental institutions, and the prevalence of organized crime networks.
