Author Arlis ALICAJ
The photos with a public investment in the Municipality of Librazhdi can be found on the Facebook address of the majority deputy, Taluant Balla, a very widespread and dominant phenomenon during the election campaign of the Parliamentary elections of April 25, 2021, for many candidates in different regions of Albania.
This situation has come as a result of numerous legal gaps in the regulatory framework of the election campaign, as in terms of the use of public assets for campaigning, something strictly prohibited by the Electoral Code, but indirectly allowed by the Regulatory Commission of the CEC , and the complete lack of regulation of the political campaign in online media, both those of a public nature and those of a social (personal) nature.
In the city of Librazhd, despite various legal prohibitions and restrictions in force and due to gaps in the regulatory framework, the Mayor of Librazhd Kastriot Gurra and deputy Taulant Balla have shared almost every week on their official pages photos from the works of performed in the infrastructure from Librazhd Municipality and meetings held in the community. The company AlbaStar, which carries out the works from the German KfW grant, has employed almost the entire youth workforce in Librazhd.
The incomplete regulatory framework has allowed an uncontrolled campaign
In December 2020, the Regulatory Commission of the CEC, with decision No. 9, dated 24.12.2020, prohibited the promotion of public activities for which funds were made available only recently (4 months before election day) or for which unforeseen movements were made in the budget, excluding from the obligation activities and investments long-term, which are actually the majority of public investments in the country. It is rare to see the beginning of "electoral investments" and the cutting of electoral ribbons in infrastructure, energy, social or economic investments. This decision of the Regulatory Commission, furthermore, taking into account the situation in which Albania and the wider region is located, has excluded from the inclusion in the prohibited activities the information and promotion of investments that have come as a result of reconstruction efforts after the earthquake of November 2019 and the global pandemic caused by COVID-19, or at least that's how this permission has been read by the campaigning political entities, who have found the best way to benefited from the pandemic for electoral campaigns, often demonizing political opponents through public figures in high positions in the health administration.
The decision of the Regulatory Commission provides that "...Exceptionally, in the cases of imposing extraordinary measures due to the state of natural disaster or epidemic/pandemic, the provisions of point 1.1 of this article (prohibited activities) do not apply, for acts or activities that aim to take measures for coping with the consequences of these natural disasters or epidemics/pandemics,...", a forecast which in no case allows the information or promotion of the achievements of the campaigns undertaken in the framework of the post-earthquake reconstruction or the promotion of the vaccination campaign against COVID-19, but only the announcement or notification of the public about the measures that will be taken in within the latter.
These legal gaps, or misinterpretations of the regulatory framework, have multiplied further and with the total lack of regulation of the political campaign in online or social media, something that has given political subjects a free hand in promoting their arts, or promoting online electoral campaign, without any prohibition or legal restriction.
Beyond this, taking as a starting point a complaint of a political entity against the posts on the social media of the Mayor of Tirana of activities perceived as political, at the CEC, the Complaints and Sanctions Commission has come out with a decision in which it evaluates the use of the media social in the promotion of electoral activities during the electoral campaign. In this decision, KAS has reasoned that "Posting photos, videos or comments about activities on social media does not make the activities automatically considered public in view of the definition of point 1 of article 92 of the Electoral Code. In a majority of cases, the postings pursue purposes other than the purpose of information required by point 1 of article 92 of the Code...", further following that "In the majority of cases, the posts aim to promote the account holder, or issues that are important to him, show attitudes or opinions, raise problems or raise awareness, encourage discussion or debate...", thus excluding posts on social media from general legal prohibitions due to the personal nature of these media, but leaving the KAS path to assess whether these posts are intended to inform the public for electoral reasons, or are simply personal opinions.
This decision-making by KAS, but also the lack of a legal framework for monitoring or limiting propaganda and political activities in the online format, have allowed the various actors in these elections to conduct their election campaign through uncontrolled social media and without the concern of the regulator. , even before the official start of the election campaign.
The election campaign with the construction of water pipes and the systemization of sewers in Librazhd and Prrenjas
With an observation of the respective pages of socialist deputy Taulant Balla or Municipality Librazhd on Facebook, but also in the meetings they held in this city, almost every day, the socialist deputy, often accompanied by the Mayor, was also seen at the construction sites of the AlbStar company.
"The city of Librazhdit has not had any intervention in the water supply system since 1960" - said Mr. Balla in a meeting where Prime Minister Edi Rama also participated, adding that "there is no other aqueduct in Albania with these dimensions. Our good works need your vote to continue. In the next mandate, we will do even more."
Traffic chaos has been going on for months, the rains block the circulation of residents and cars at the main intersection of the entrance to the main city center, due to inerts. Problems after the rains appear at the intersection near the pension office, on the police road. This road also serves as a ring road for vehicles.
Ms. Feride, a resident of neighborhood number 1 in Librazhd, says that she cannot sleep because of the noise. "The works start at 7 o'clock in the morning, workers who shout, the dust that gets inside us and during the rains is red mud". Shahini, also a resident of this neighborhood, adds "The campaign has accelerated the works, I doubt their quality, most of the stones and tiles that were placed earlier are broken and have lost their compactness". While many other residents express indignation about the lack of water and the inappropriate time and pace of the works. The chaos created due to the campaign and hasty investments is also seen in the publications of the candidates in the elections against the reality on the ground and the damage observed in the current infrastructure is high.
The support and promotion of public projects has been evaluated by the jurists of the Albanian Committee of Helsinki in the category of activities prohibited to be promoted and contradicts article 3, point 1, letters a) and ç) of decision no. 9/2020 of the Regulatory Commission. After getting to know some citizen's denunciations forwarded through local coordinators, KShH sent an official letter to the State Election Commissioner for verification and taking measures on these denunciations.
"Further verification of the facts or indications referred to in these denunciations is, in our opinion, the competence of the CEC, which, as the case may be, if there is a violation of the electoral legislation, applies administrative sanctions in accordance with Article 172 of the Electoral Code", says the Albanian Committee of Helsinki, which with the assistance of local coordinators is proactively monitoring the pre-election process.
Use of subordinates and public resources in the campaign
To avoid the use of public resources in the campaign, the Electoral Code was amended by broad consensus in the agreement of June 5, 2020.
Lefterie Luzi, election expert and former president of the Central Election Commission, appreciates the strengthening of penalties and the possibility that the public can now make complaints themselves.
"The addition of article 123/3 of the CC for public participation in the denunciation of facts, this adds the fact of specifying the procedures that the public must follow or maintaining anonymity, certainly helps the process and increases integrity, since the inclusiveness in this process and especially the voter who is part of this process would help the process in a positive direction. The obligation of the CEC to maintain and preserve in regular statistics all criminal investigations for electoral matters is the novelty of the changes in this code (Article 167/1). These elements which the legislator has foreseen to significantly increase the integrity of the elections and to give credibility to the election process," Luzi concluded.
However, the Institute of Political Studies (ISP) is monitoring the CEC and the electoral campaign regarding the implementation of new legal norms in this area. From the monitoring data and the critical reports of the media and political parties in the elections, it results that a large number of employees with civil status and public administration are involved in the electoral campaign during the official working hours. They are involved in political activities, electoral propaganda and political debates of the day, mainly in social media.
"ISP comes out with the recommendation that DAP should have approved a guide for the behavior of the public administration and civil servants during the electoral campaign and the CEC should have requested from the state and public institutions a system of monitoring, verification and response in application of the criteria that requires an election process with standards. Law 152/2013 defines the limitations for the exercise of political rights for civil servants."
The Electoral Code and legislation on public administration also set limits on the behavior of officials and administration during electoral campaigns and political activities. DAP is the institution responsible for the implementation of legislation on public servants, it is further stated in their letter.
One of the main aspects in which the local government has violated the provisions of the Electoral Code on the use of public resources and the State Election Commissioner's Instruction on the use of propaganda materials during the election campaign is the failure to correctly define the public places in which political subjects can place their propaganda and educational materials for the voters, including the Municipality of Tirana, which for these elections for the Assembly, in complete violation of the law and the instructions of the State Election Commissioner, did not allow any political subject space dedicated to the materials their propaganda, as well as a number of other municipalities that have allowed the use of public spaces as part of cultural heritage as well as public administration buildings as in the case of Librazhd Municipality for the publication of these propaganda materials.
On April 14, The State Election Commissioner stated that Librazhd Municipality and its mayor, Kastriot Gurra, have violated article 78 and 91 of the Electoral Code and article 3 of Instruction No. 6/2021 "On the use of propaganda and educational materials and the rules for their display during the election campaign". The municipality in question has placed a poster of the Socialist Party on the wall of the building, while according to the Electoral Code, the posting of propaganda materials during elections must be done at a distance of up to 5 meters from the election office of political entities. The denunciation was carried out by the Librazhd Democratic branch. Despite the fact that the CEC ordered the Mayor of Librazhd to immediately remove the Socialist Party's electoral poster from the facade of the municipality, the officials of this municipality have not yet performed the appropriate actions in accordance with the law. The ACQJ journalist confirmed that on 21/04/2021 the poster was still on the facade of the Librazhd City Hall building and the CEC's decision was not respected.
The municipality did not respond to our request for comment regarding the State Commissioner's decision on the case in question and its non-compliance. The number of public denunciations in various media and social media for non-compliance with the norms for electoral propaganda are numerous, but unfortunately, the decisions given to fix the situation by the CEC is only 1, the one against the Librazhd Municipality, a decision which he was eventually ignored.
