Embassy Tirana Weekly Report

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TIRANA 000836

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SUBJECT: Embassy Tirana Weekly Report

Electoral Code Cheered by Some, Jeered by Others
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1. The Ruling Democratic Party and the opposition Socialists were in
a state of jubilation last week as Parliament passed with an over 90
per cent majority the new Electoral Code that will regulate the
conduct of the upcoming general elections in Albania. With 113
votes in favor and only one against, Parliament approved a system of
rules that will give the two main parties overwhelming control over
the electoral process. The Code will establish for the first time in
the history of Albanian democracy a proportional electoral system
that is expected to have a significant impact in the configuration
of the Albanian political establishment. According to the new code,
the Central Election Committee will be made up of seven members,
five of whom will belong to the two main parties, while the
remaining two seats will be allocated by Parliament to smaller
parties. Decision making in the CEC will also be shared between the
two large parties. For CEC decisions to be valid, both the Chairman
and the Deputy will have to co-sign them. The electoral code has
also introduced new rules on voter's lists and identificatio
documents. Parliament also boosted the power ofparty observers by
giving them the right to interupt the vote counting proocess in case
of irreguarities. In a more significant achievement for Alaania,
this is the first time since the fall of communism that the country
has in place a proper elc"toral legal framework eight months before
the eeections.


2. In its most controversial measure, h(e two main parties stripped
the third politicalfforce in the country, the Socialist Movement for
Integration (LSI),from the right to have a member in the electoral
commissions. While the overwhelming rate of Parliamentary approval
for the Code is unprecedented, the approval has raised some
questions about the impact of such a measure on the future of
democratic institutions in Albania. Some caution that giving
Albania's two political leaders control over both the list of names
that will be included in the party electoral lists and the
management of the electoral process itself does not bode well for
the future of the country. A petition signed by over 100 well-known
intellectuals and public figures, including the names of former
Presidents Meidani and Moisiu, also voiced these same concerns. The
disenfranchisement of LSI from the electoral structures could also
potentially poison the pre-electoral atmosphere as the Party's small
but militant base has openly expressed its anger over such a
measure. The leader of LSI, Ilir Meta, has vowed to continue the
opposition against a bill which he claims discriminates against his
party and puts the future of Albanian democracy in question. Meta's
hunger strike failed to deliver any tangible results for his party
and base. What it may have given him, however, is motive and a
cause on which he could build his electoral platform and make
headway in the voting base of the Socialist Party.


Take me to Albania!
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3. Although Prime Minister Sali Berisha is well known for getting a
bit carried away when describing Albania's future, recent statements
by the Prime Minister on various topics ranging from olive groves to
energy have raised eyebrows and left many Albanians - even those
used to the PM's frequent rhetorical flourishes - wondering whether
the Prime Minister has lost touch with reality.


4. Berisha recently surprised both the IMF and his economic
advisers when he touted Albania's "double-digit" economic growth -
an estimate more than double the consensus view of his own advisors
and the IMF (which was still a respectable 4-5 percent). At another
recent event, Berisha detailed his plans to make Albania "the
region's superpower on energy generation," a statement many
Albanians found amusing given the country's chronic power outages.
The Prime Minister also pledged to bring Albania into the digital
era by funding computers for "every school and every household,"
despite the fact that many of these households and schools lack
running water or electricity. Finally, and most puzzling to many,
was Berisha's guffaw-inspiring vow last week in Parliament to make
Albania "the most beautiful olive grove in the Mediterranean," by
planting 20 million olive trees in the coming years. Berisha was
quick to add, however, that the 20 million trees is just a down
payment on the eventual cultivation of 100 million trees.


5. Since 2005, (the year PM Berisha returned to power) Albanians
have become used to grandiose talk on the part of the PM about one
mega project after another. The Prime Minister, it seems, is simply
not capable of thinking small. The problem comes when the PM's talk
of a booming Albania clashes so sharply with the daily lives of many
ordinary Albanians. The PM's penchant for grand ideas and visions
reminds many Albanians of an old communist-era joke about a
kindergarten teacher in Albania who was talking to her students
about the "marvelous Albania". When she finished talking about the
country she described as a garden with roses and flowers, a
prosperous country whose people were the happiest in the world, a

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country where kids had everything, a boy in the back of the class
began to cry. When the teacher asked the boy why he was crying, he
shouted "I want to go and live in Albania, please take me there,
please!"



WITHERS