European Central: Recent Albanian Elections Cause Scandal In Kosovo
AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama of Partia Socialiste e Shqipërisë (Socialist Party) won a third term as a result of the recent elections. This makes him the first person in Albanian history to be Prime Minister for three terms. The election is viewed as a symbol of Albania’s progress towards EU membership, but the election had some small mishaps. The election had no early voting or voting by mail, and Albanians sick with Covid-19 were not allowed to vote. Albania passed election reforms including using an electronic identification system. However, there was no one to work the electronic identification machines in 142 out of 5,199 polling stations, mainly in remote areas. While the election had a higher turnout than previously, 48 percent is still a low turnout rate compared to national elections of European Union member states. This can be partially attributed to grey voters, a term that refers to voters in Albania dissatisfied with the same candidates and were unsure if they would even participate in the election.
Corruption in Albania
While the election appears to have minor problems on an actual day, there are sinister allegations to address. An Albanian news site alleges that the Socialist Party has a database of voter information. The database includes records of employment and the family background of voters. Rama claims this information was obtained voluntarily from voters, but the Democratic Party claims the information came from a government website. There are notes in the database discussing what party voters support. Rama claimed it was an outdated version of his party’s database but voters who accessed the database claim their information was updated. Besides this, Albania has a long history of corruption.
In July of 2020, over twenty election officials were arrested because people were allowed to cast a ballot on behalf of voters who were abroad during the election. This exposes some of the corruption that has caused concern about whether or not Albania is ready for accession to the European Union. The Democratic Party demanded that there are more investigations into the corruption, insisting there is far more corruption that currently visible. As Edi Rama keeps winning, there may be concerns that corruption will persist. As it is, Rama downplayed the arrest of election officials. If he truly wanted to fight corruption, Rama should have vowed that the matter would be investigated thoroughly.
Prior to the election, there was a lot of anger directed toward Rama over the demolition of the national theater in Tirana. Rama insisted the theater was rundown and Tirana needed a modern theater. He claims that the protestors were the same people who protest over every new project in Tirana. Whether or not that is true about the protestors, there is criticism of how he handled the situation during a pandemic, and some even compared him to a dictator. Europa Nostra strongly condemned the demolition of the theater which Europa Nostra previously classified as one of the seven most endangered heritage sites in Europe. Critics also allege that the contract to build the new theater was given to a preferred partner of the government without competition for the contract.
Reforms have been happening, but slowly. SPAK is an independent judicial body that was established to help tackle corruption in Albania. There has also been a focus on re-evaluating Judges through a vetting process to fight corruption in Albania’s judicial system, but progress has been slow. When the European Commission published an update on reforms in Albania in October 2020, only 286 of 805 judges have been vetted. In order to alleviate concerns over whether Albania is prepared to become a member state of the EU, Rama needs to show that he will lead a government dedicated to fighting corruption effectively and efficiently.
Complications With Kosovo
This election may have hurt the relationship between Albania and Kosovo. Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti campaigned with the sister party which goes by the same name as his own political party, Vetëvendosje. This can risk the good relationship that Albania has had with Kosovo and may convince Rama to focus on EU membership rather than a political union with Kosovo. Besides tarnishing his relationship with Rama, Kurti has angered his own constituents in Kosovo. Kurti also voted in the Albanian election. He has the legal right to vote in Albania along with the majority of Kosovars who also have Albanian citizenship, but Kosovars are still angry. It is rare for a head of state like Kurti to vote in another country’s elections, and some Kosovars are concerned this is bad optics for Kosovo on the international stage. Part of the anger may also be from the fact that due to voting by mail not allowed, he had to leave Kosovo in order to vote in Albania, along with campaigning for Vetëvendosje candidates. This meant Kurti was focusing less on his own country, which is suffering from a wave of Covid-19 cases. While Kurti was in Albania, a Kosovar was dying from Covid-19 every two hours. To put this in perspective for readers from more populous nations, Kosovo only has a population of slightly under 1.9 million people. As Kurti faces backlash for his actions, it appears they did not pay off for him. None of the candidates he supported are expected to take office.
Long Road Ahead For Rama
While he won the election, Edi Rama has an uphill battle to fight regarding accession to the European Union. As 97 percent of Albanians favor joining the European Union, it is impertinent that Rama ensures that Albanian accession to the bloc occurs. Rama needs to prove that he is dedicated to political reforms and work towards greatly reducing corruption in Albania. Besides challenges to become a member state, Albania should plan ahead for the future and the challenges it will endure as a new member state. Similar to other Eastern European countries, Albania should be prepared for a large emigration of its labor force to wealthier nations in the European Union. Edi Rama will have to aggressively work towards achieving economic convergence with other EU member states in order to try to persuade Albanians to stay and work in Albania. Over 400,000 Albanians already live in Italy. Nations in the European Union have been more likely to restrict the freedom of movement of citizens from new member states after the large wave of expansion in 2004. Member states are permitted to restrict freedom of movement for a maximum of seven years. This gives Rama some time to minimize emigration from Albania.
When it comes to economic convergence, Rama needs to work on increasing the median gross hourly wage in Albania in particular. In 2018, Albania had a median gross hourly wage of 1.73 euros an hour. Excluding Great Britain, the median gross hourly wage for the current 27 member states was 13.18 euros in 2018. Italy which already has the largest population of Albanians in the EU had a median gross hourly wage of 12.61 euros the same year. It is extremely unlikely that Albania would see convergence in its wages with those of richer member states within the 7 years these wealthier nations would restrict Albanian migration. This means the Albanian government needs to prepare to attract migrants back to Albania which is what other member states are currently doing.
