Partners Albania

Monitoring of Parliamentary Elections 2009

Under the facilitation and coordination of Partners-Albania, the Coalition of Domestic Observers was engaged to monitor the voting and counting process in framework of Parliamentary Elections 2009. This project was supported by the United States Embassy in Tirana and Open Society Foundation for Albania.

This monitoring effort was a successful continuation of the Coalition’s experience in monitoring the election processes of Parliamentary Elections 2005 and Local Elections 2007.

The novelty of this monitoring effort is that for the first time after 18 years of elections in Albania, the civil society was able to organize and implement such a major political project, entirely on their own without the foreign presence or technical expertise.

The Coalition of Domestic Observers, as a voluntary union of civil sociey organizations, deployed around 2500 observers who were present in the polling stations in 100% of urban areas and around 20% of rural areas across the country.

The Coalition’s objectives in this monitoring effort were:

•    To recruit a group of committed observers to monitor the election process, leaded by the principles of political independence, objectivity, transparency and accountability, in respect to all democracy principles.
•    To strengthen the capacities of domestic observers to enable a professional, effective and in compliance with new legal framework monitoring process.
•    To provide in real time information about the election process, through press conferences.
•    To provide an alternative report from the civil society group;
•    To further develop the Coalition’s capacities to undertake similar monitoring initiatives in the future.

Same as the previous experiences, the Coalition drafted a Memorandum of Understating, setting out ethical principles that to be followed by members during the monitoring effort.

Since November 2009 until the Election Day, Partners Albania coordinated and facilitated all Coalition’s meetings, assisting with drafting the monitoring methodology, division of electoral areas to be covered by each organization, and division of duties and responsibilities.

Strengthening Local Observers Capacities
Throughout a two months period, the Coalition conducted 146 training sessions with observers through out the country. During the training, the observers received the necessary knowledge on the Electoral Code, the guidelines of the Central Election Commission regarding the procedures for voting, counting and annunciation of results, and the Code of Ethics and professionalism during monitoring process. A special emphasis was given to the observers’ guidelines on sending SMSs to report on the process.

Publicity of the Monitoring Effort
The Coalition organized on June 8th a public event, with participation of the United States Ambassador in Albania, Mr. Withers, who greeted the Coalition’s initiative and highlighted that “..free and fair elections that meet international standards will signal Albania’s moving closer to full Euro Atlantic Integration..”

Another important public event was organized on June 27, 2009 at Rogner Hotel were the Coalition had established the Monitoring Operation Center. During this event attended by donor agencies and state institutions, the Chairman of Central Elections Commission, Mr. Arben Ristani distributed accreditations for the observers attending the event.

Work at the Operation Center During the Election Day
At Rogner Hotel was established the Operation Center of communication with domestic observers and elaboration of the information received through SMSs.

Throughout the Election Day, the Coalition held five press conferences to provide information on the progress of the voting process. Based on the SMS reports by the observers, the Coalition provided information on the time polling stations were opened and closed, the percentage of voters in different times during the day and the incidents reported.

On the following day the Coalition held three other press conferences reporting on the progress of the counting process, and also issued a Preliminary report of findings about the voting process during Elections 2009.

Election Monitoring Preliminary Report

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