The Albanian Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) presented the results of a survey that demonstrated Albanian citizens are dissatisfied with the state of democracy, and demand more input and transparency when it comes to politics.
Conducted by IDM in conjunction with the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford University, the survey questioned 1200 Albanians on seven different topics including parliament, voting, democracy, electoral reform, the diaspora, economic migration, and climate change.
The results demonstrated overall dissatisfaction with the status quo, and a deep desire for change.
Economic migration to Albania
Currently, most foreign workers in Albania are engaged in high-level jobs but over the last few years, cases of unskilled worker immigration has increased, particularly for in-home services and construction.
Some 38% of respondents said they supported Albania being open to the immigration of foreign labour as many economic sectors struggle to find workers. They argued however, that efforts should be made to incentivise Albanian workers to stay in the country, instead of importing immigrant workers. A similar figure were skeptical that foreign cultures would be able to integrate with Albanian society and were concerned of negative impacts.
Eighty per cent said businesses should pay Albanians more instead of importing cheaper, foreign labour. Other motivations for Albanian workers should include investment in skills development, career orientation programs, and the revitalisation of rural communities.
Overall, Albanians see the immigration of a foreign workforce as an inevitable necessity, but have hesitations about integration and the possible impact on Albanian culture.
Electoral system reform
Albania has carried out a total of eight electoral reforms since the fall of communism and has experimented with majoritarian, proportional, and mixed, currently opting for the regional proportional system.
Over half of Albanians believe the current electoral system does not reflect the will of the people. A further 67.8% supports transition to another system such as a pure majority system. They said it creates a consolidated relationship between the candidate and the electorate and makes it harder to buy votes or overburden electoral lists with unqualified candidates.
The results also highlighted that many did not understand how electoral systems works. One third did not know how MPs were reelected and only 25% said they had this information.
Overall, respondents were clear that there is a need for consistency and governments should stop the process of ignoring previous developments and starting over by suggesting their own ideas. There was also an overwhelming support for open lists with almost half in favour.
Over 33% said MPs are out of touch with citizens and their concerns.
In terms of diaspora voting, 71.5% support them having the right to vote. They argued they are more resilient to corruption, but could be manipulated by propaganda. They favour electronic voting, followed by regular mail.
Environment and climate change
Environmental challenges are finding more prominence in the public debate in Albania, particularly in response to wider international developments. Key issues are waste management, illegal logging, sustainable transport, climate change, hunting, and animal welfare.
Furthermore, poor air quality generates troubling health concerns for the population as car usage increases while public transport usage decreases.
Two thirds of Albanians believe that global-warming and pollution are a serious concern, and they support the principle of implementation measures to mitigate environmental impacts. This would not apply to higher taxes. They do however support electric cars, financial incentives for citizens, and only electric cars circulating in city centres.
Over half of respondents do not know if Albania has a climate change law, while 20% said the country doesn’t. Almost 80% said climate change is a threat while 66% said air pollution is a big concern.
Citizens believe Albania is not a big polluter and also believe the zero carbon emissions by 2035 is unattainable.
Internal democracy of political parties
A lack of democratic tradition in Albania has led to political parties with poor internal democracy that are based around their leaders rather than any meaningful structure. This results in fragmentation, a lack of pluralism, and poor behavior from such leaders.
Some 40% of responders said they were not satisfied with how democracy works while another 20% said they were slightly satisfied. Around half said they were not interested in politics were women who were less likely to care than men.
Citizens’ said they wanted party statues and internal structures to be available online. They also want information about public funding for parties and candidates.
There were concerns over the usage of funds, a lack of transparency, and a need for less dependence on lobbyists. Over half said political parties financial transparency should be internationally certified.
Matters of parliament
Citizens’ have a low level of public trust in parliament with 40% saying they do not trust it at all. Albanians also commonly think the role of Parliament is infective and believe it should be strengthened. Almost 82% said the competencies of independence institutions should be increased to better scrutinise the government.
Furthermore, only 40.7% said they had an understanding of what is going on in politics and parliament. Participants also questioned the integrity of MPs, the transparency of parliament, and its functions.
The results of the national survey show that the majority of the respondents (48.4%) were supportive of the proposal of enabling the opposition to preside over the work of at least 1/3 of parliamentary committees, whilst 32.1% gravitated towards the middle, 13.7% were opposed and 5.8% said they did not know.
Almost 69% of Albanians believe that there should be obligatory referendums on controversial matters. Over 70% said there should be online petitions with voting identification as a way to influence the legislative process.
Overall, citizens do not have confidence in their ability to have any influence on the legislative process. They demand making public consultation necessary for all draft laws, due to a perceived disconnection of MPs from their reality.
