Author: Klevis Paloka
The amendment of the Electoral Code before the parliamentary elections of April 25, 2021, also brought changes to the article on the posting of propaganda materials for electoral subjects. The Electoral Code (Article 79) obliged the mayors to determine in a fair and impartial manner, the public places in the territory of the respective municipality for the posting of propaganda materials by political parties and electoral subjects.
In order to see how Article 79 of the Electoral Code would be implemented, the Albanian Center for Quality Journalism decided to monitor how some municipalities would implement this regulation.
To begin with, we sent the Municipality of Tirana and the Municipality of Kurbini a request for information, regarding the places that these municipalities had determined in their territory for the display of propaganda materials for electoral subjects who had registered to participate in the elections. April 25, 2021.
After many delays, the two municipalities brought us answers about the places they had determined for the electoral subjects.
In the response of the Municipality of Tirana, which made available to us the mayor's order, "On the designation of public places for the posting of propaganda and educational materials and the rules for their posting during the election campaign", no special place for electoral subjects to post propaganda materials.
The Municipality of Tirana has satisfied itself only with the order that "Election propaganda materials are allowed to be displayed up to a distance of 5 (five) meters from the election office of the political party or the relevant electoral subject no earlier than 30 (thirty) days before the date of the elections". - something which is regulated by the Electoral Code, but the Municipality had not determined any place for electoral subjects according to the obligation imposed by the law.
In a second communication with the Municipality of Tirana, we were provided with a list of the places designated by the Administrative Units for posting propaganda materials of electoral subjects, in the framework of the electoral campaign for the parliamentary elections of 25.04.2021.
In this list, what stands out is the fact that the Administrative Units have determined seats for only 5 electoral subjects out of 17 electoral subjects registered for elections. The electoral subjects for which the Administrative Units have determined public places for displaying propaganda materials are for the Socialist Party (SP), the Democratic Party (PD), the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI), the Justice, Integration and Unity Party (PDIU) and the Social Party Democrats (PSD).
The Municipality of Tirana emphasizes that it has determined a total of 118 places for the posting of propaganda materials of electoral subjects. Of these designated seats, the Socialist Party and the Democratic Party have the largest spaces.
According to an expert on electoral issues, this decision is illegal, but even in cases where the obligation to place propaganda materials is considered fulfilled, they must be up to 5 meters away from the electoral offices of the subjects.
"It is incomprehensible and illegal to designate posting places only for 5 electoral subjects or the cases when the obligation is considered fulfilled by the mayors when they decide that the propaganda materials must be up to 5 meters away from the electoral offices of the subjects and that's all. The campaign must be equal, that is, what is the point of assigning seats to only 5 electoral subjects. On the other hand, each subject should have this opportunity for propaganda, that is, many places, for example visible public surfaces should be divided equally and each subject is assigned its own place for the material, but not one subject on one street and one subject in another", the expert explains.
While the candidate for deputy of Nisma Thurje, Pano Soko, says that they were not aware of this issue.
"The Municipality of Tirana did not notify us and we did not know at all, we did not know that there could be other special places, so we had no information", says Soko.
Although the Municipality of Tirana has designated these places, the electoral subject SP has placed propaganda materials on a road that was not designated. On "Ibrahim Rugova" street, in a bar, propaganda materials of the candidate for SP deputy number 30, Ornaldo Rakipi, are placed, which is in violation of the Electoral Code.
While on "Dritan Hoxha" street in front of the "Asllan Rusi" sports palace, the electoral subject PSD has placed propaganda materials of the candidate for MP number 1, Tom Doshi, while according to the list made available by the Municipality of Tirana, no place was determined such for this subject. This is another case of repeated violations by parties and candidates regarding the placement of campaign propaganda materials.
While during the observation it is noticed that the Municipality of Tirana has not even implemented point 7 of the instruction no. 6 of the CEC "On the use of propaganda and educational materials and the rules for their display during the election campaign", where it is stated that "The decision of the mayor of municipality for the assignment of places for posting propaganda materials is made public on the website of the municipality".
The decision of the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, is missing from the official website of the Municipality of Tirana.
In addition to not implementing the instructions of the CEC, the Municipality of Tirana has also not implemented the order of the Mayor Erion Veliajt, where he states that "The General Directorate for Public and External Relations is charged with publishing this order on the official website of the Municipality of Tirana".
Meanwhile, the Municipality of Kurbin has not determined any place under the pretext that "Kurbin Municipality is one of the municipalities affected by the earthquake of November 26, 2019 and as a result several construction sites have been erected in the territory of Kurbin Municipality".
The observation shows that the only construction site in the territory of the Municipality of Kurbin for the earthquake part is located in the city of Laçi, while in the cities of Mamurras and Milot there is no construction site for the earthquake part.
The expert describes it as an action that has no legal basis.
"It is understandable that the Kurbin Municipality is not forgiven for not having designated the places for posting, its inaction has no legal basis", says the expert.
Although it had not determined any place for posting propaganda materials, on the Mamurras-Milot highway in the vicinity of the Patok overpass, the electoral subject DP had placed a general propaganda advertisement.
Like the Municipality of Tirana, the Municipality of Kurbin has not published the mayor's order on the website.
The Municipality of Belshi is no exception, which has predetermined a single place in the city and which is occupied by the electoral subject SP. For this case, there was also a decision from the CEC which did not call it a violation of the Electoral Code.
But the expert thinks differently, as all parties should have equal opportunities.
"In other words, the mayor assigns the place, it seems that it is premeditated as a place and whoever takes it first gets to enjoy it. No, this is not according to the Electoral Code. Everyone should have a place in a public place and with equal opportunity for propaganda. Belshi has only this pillar and it is designated only for SP", explains the expert.
In another municipality where, according to the observation made by ACQJ, the Electoral Code was violated, it was also in the Municipality of Tepelena.
The instruction qualifies that: "It is prohibited to display propaganda materials on: the facades of residential buildings, public institutions or surrounding areas near and around them, within recreational areas, parks, on city trees and on lighting poles", while on the main page of the Castle of Ali Pasha Tepelena, the candidate of the Socialist Party, Bledi Çuçi, has placed a giant poster.
So much from the observation in the Municipality of Kamza that even though two months have passed since the April 25 elections, the propaganda materials have not been removed yet. Such is a poster of the candidate of the SP, Halit Valteri, which has been placed on the site of a building.
For these problems, the expert on legal issues explains why these problems occurred and gives some recommendations on how the Electoral Code should be applied in a regular manner.
"My perception is that the mayors have continued out of inertia the actions they have taken in previous campaigns and have not understood the new legal basis for displaying propaganda materials and this leads to two conclusions: Either the legal basis must be seen to be more direct or should the acts be approved in time and provide guidance/training for municipal staff to properly implement this legal obligation", says the expert.
The expert leaves part of the blame for the late approval of by-laws.
"The truth is that the legal and by-law acts were approved late, that is, for example, two days before the deadline for the start of the election campaign, unlike most other by-law acts late, because the Commissioner and other bodies were under time pressure, and perhaps their implementation was given little importance because they had many other more immediate and important actions on the agenda. However, for the other elections, I think there should be a training campaign for municipal staff to implement this obligation, applying the requirements of the electoral code.", the expert concludes his explanation.
