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ATA News from Albania, 96-10-22Albanian Telegraphic Agency Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA) Home Page at <http://www.telpress.it/ata>Albanian Telegraphic AgencyCONTENTS
[01] ELECTIONS WERE FREE AND NORMAL - French EmbassyTIRANA, OCT. 21 (ATA) - By A Lazaj: "The process of elections for municipalities and communes was free and conformed to the rules in the polling stations we monitored last Sunday," said Patrick Christmant, French Ambassador in Albania.Four functionaries of the embassy, in the role of the French government observers, visited 15 polling stations in different districts of Albania. "We stayed there until the polls closed and the ballots were counted and we noticed no violations or irregularities by the election commissions, " said Stanislas Mrozek, first secretary of the French Embassy. "The French Government will listen to our opinion and judgment on the elections. We think that by living here, knowing the Albanian people well and being independent politically in the our function and viewpoints, we shall convey a rather realistic report on the polls, said Mr Ambassador. "I am so pleased to see that democracy has progressed in Albania. As a friend of Albania, France shows a great interest in your country considering Albania as a state which is playing a great role for the peace in the Balkans," Mr Christmant told ATA. According to reports from DP, in the municipal elections held last Sunday, this party won in at least 37 municipalities (including Tirana) of 64 that are altogether, and in 159 communes out of 310 throughout the country. Whereas the participation of the voters was about 75 per cent. kei/xh/sh/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[02] PRESIDENT BERISHA MEETS "SOS" ORGANISATION PRESIDENTTIRANA, OCT 21 (ATA)- President of the Republic Sali Berisha met Tuesday with a delegation of the "SOS" organisation, headed by its president, Marko Cegone."I express my profound gratitude and of all the Albanians for your precious donation by setting up the model village "SOS" in Sauk, worth 10 million dollars", President Berisha told Mr. Cegone. "Therefore, I wish to thank those millions of German and Austrian citisens who contributed to this donation". Cegone thanked President Berisha for the Albanian government's support and backing for setting up the children's village in Sauk and for other of its projects. President Berisha also responded to Cegone's desire to set up another similar village in the Korca city, assuring him that together with the new Korca city mayor he would support the realisation of such project. lm/z/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[03] PRESS REVIEWTIRANA, OCT 22 (ATA)- All today's newspapers report on the results of the October 20 local government elections in Albania.The newspaper "Rilindja Demokratike", under the headline "October 20 confirmed 26th of May" covers yesterday's news conference of President Sali Berisha and democratic leader Shehu. Foreign observers appreciate the electoral process, the paper says citing the Italian observers, French Embassy, Austrian parliamentarians and Turkish observers as saying. "Abstention, a clear winner of the local elections", Republika says. The high figure of non participation in the elections shows that trust in the institution of the free vote has not been restored to the people, the paper says. "The Albanians reconfirmed the May 26 elections", the newspaper Albania says. The paper entitles its editorial:"The confidence vote for the DP, a self-defence for democracy". "The end of a democratic adventure", is the title of the editorial of the newspaper Koha Jone. "Capitulation of the opposition", the paper says underlining that foreign observers speak today of the local elections in Albania. The paper carries the article:"The opposition lost all it had". Dita Informacion, in the feature "Analysis" carries the article: "Whose merit of 'fault' is it?". The newspaper covers yesterday's news conference under the titled:"Socialists: the elections were not free". "Elections, who won and who lost", "Gazeta Shqipatre" says. The paper carries pronouncements of major political forces regarding the October 20 electoral results. kled/lm/z/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[04] NEW COACH OF ALBANIAN NATIONAL FOOTBAL TEAM APPOINTEDTIRANA, OCT 22 (ATA)- The Executive committee of the Albanian Football Federation on Saturday appinted Astrit Hafizi coach of the Albanian national football team.Hafizi will lead the Albanian team in the November 9 match against Armenia in Tirana, for the eliminating matches of "France '98". The previous coach Neptun Bajko has resigned after the defeat of the Albanian team by the Portugese representatove. kled/lm/z/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[05] NECESSARY DOSES FOR RE-VACCINATION AGAINST POLIO OBTAINEDTIRANA, OCT 22 (ATA) By A. Milo,Some 3.4 million second vaccine doses against polio have been secured as part of the campaign being launched in Albania, official sources at the Ministry of Health and Environment report. Some 400 000 doses of vaccines arrived in Albania yesterday from the International Red Cross. Meanwhile, the most part, like in the first phase, has come from Italy. Other international institutions and associations have provided their contributions alongside Italy. The first phase of the vaccination campaign of people up to 50 years of age wound up successfully on October 14. kled/lm/z/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[06] NETWORK OF TERRORIST ORGANIZATION "ALBANIAN JUSTICE REVENGE" EXTENDSTIRANA, OCT 22 (ATA) - Tirana court ruled prison arrest for two high ranking administrators of Bença jail, Tepelena.The judge, Dritan Broci, signed Monday the request of prosecutor Rrahim Licaj, to start legal proceeding against defendants Gribes Licaj, former director of Bença jail, and the prison's other high ranking official, Robert Kazanxhiu. Former jail director Girbes Licaj is accused of abuse of office because of allowing illegal meetings of Klement Kolaneci with prisoner Hajredin Shyti, sentenced to 18 years in prison for the April 2, 1991 massacre in the Shkodra district. The former director is also accused of abuse of office. Because of lack of control, many letters of Hajredin Shyti with instructions for the terrorist organization, which are found in his son's house, have come out of Bença jail. The defendant Robert Kazanxhiu is accused of falsifying the official papers. Kazanxhiu has falsified the name of Klement Kolaneci, when the latter met Hajredin Shyti in Benca jail, Tepelena. The jail official has falsified the name of Klement Kolaneci in all the papers by changing it into Artur Kolonja. The organisation members arrested include 14 defendants and 6 accomplices. Investigations into this organisation, accused of committing 26 crimes since 1992, started since 10 days ago. According to the ongoing investigations, the real "head" of this terrorist organisation is Hajredin Shyti, the dictatorship's chief of Sigurimi, Klement Kolaneci, the son-in-law of late dictator Hoxha, and Luan Pobrati, the uncle of Leard and Orik Shyti. /kled/mt/Z/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[07] NUMBER OF ENSURED INCREASESTIRANA, 21 OCT (ATA) - The number of people who want to be ensured from fire and theft in Albania is increasing. This is the result of a survey held recently by the Institute of Statistics (INSTAT). More than 68 per cent of the inquired consider fire and theft the main cause of their misfortune. This survey, extended all over the country in more than 980 units, was held in order to see the possibility of extending INSIG activity and the conditions for those judicial and physical persons who would like to be ensured. During the survey held in those areas where groups of people have had great misfortune as a result of floods, it came out that many people considered water another factor of misfortunes so they wanted to be ensured. The great number of people who wanted to be ensured from floods had been in districts of Kurbin, Lezhe and Shkoder. At the same time, owners or particular people, who have had damages from fire and thefts, have increased their requests to be ensured from danger. /pas/mt/Z/Albanian Telegraphic Agency[08] VOTING PROCESS TESTIFIES TO SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT - U.S. NDITIRANA, OCT 22 (ATA)- By M. Allushi, Z.Mulaj, A preliminary statement made public at a news conference today by the international observers' delegation, which observed the October 20 elections in Albania, says that: "We maintain that the voting process testified to a significant improvement from the May elections".The delegation, organised by the U.S. National Democratic Institution on International Affairs (NDI), and made up of 24 members, divided into 14 teams and distributed to 13 districts of the country, visited 177 polling stations in 16 municipalities and 37 communes. In 24 polling stations the NDI observers have been present in the vote counting wholly or partially. The observers have summarized the inspections in one preliminary statement, although they stress that they have not come to oversee or witness these elections, but "to witness support for the Albanian democracy and its great steps towards democracy". "We hold that the voting process testified to a significant improvement from the May 26 elections. We hail this development. The conditions in the polling stations were generally suitable in allowing the electors to vote freely. A number of specific improvements to the electoral law since the May 26 elections were often well implemented. In general our delegation members noticed a spirit of cooperation between the members of the ruling party and the opposition in the polling station electoral commissions", the statement says. The NDI observers said that in their visits to the constituencies of Erseka, Korca, Permeti, Shkodra, Ballshi and Tirana, they had noticed "an incontestable and peaceful vote counting process". In other constituencies as in Tropoja, Lushnja, Elbasan, Peshkopi and Berat, the observers admitted they had found irregularities in the vote counting process, such as invalid votes for the opposition party mayor, refusal to record in the protocol objections by the opposition commission members, a larger number of ballots in the ballot boxes than voters' signatures in the voters' lists. However, Mr. Tineke Lodders, co-leader of the NDI International observers' delegation, said: "The irregularities noticed in these constituencies have not affected the final voting results. pas/lm/Z/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[09] COUNCIL OF EUROPE DELEGATION SATISFIED WITH THE CONDUCT OF THE LOCAL ELECTIONS IN ALBANIATirana, 22 OCT (ATSH) - The Council of Europe delegation which monitored the elections in Albania on 20 October 1996 is satisfied with the conduct of the elections, although it regrets that there were some instances of irregularities serious enough to warrant careful examination by the Central Electoral Commission.The delegation believes that the elections were free and fair. They reflected the will of the electorate and were also the product of through administrative and technical preparations that very largely complied with the requirements laid down by the Parliamentary Assembly in September 1996. The most important of these requirements, taken on board by the President of the Republic of Albania, was to convene a Round Table with all political parties, which has determined the climate of the elections. The delegation notes that these elections were preceded by a peaceful election campaign free of any significant incidents, and that cooperation within the polling stations on polling day was generally good. The Council of Europe delegation hopes to have made a contribution to the consolidation of democracy in Albania. It welcomes the fruitful cooperation with the Central Electoral Commission and all political parties. The Council of Europe delegation draws attention to the support from several other election - monitoring delegations present in Albania with which effective cooperation developed. A joint report by the Council of Europe delegation will be presented to the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe. It will give a detailed assessment of the monitoring and set out constructive proposals on how certain shortcomings identified can be overcome. During the observation of the elections, the CE delegation reached the conclusion that the result of the voting procedure implementation in 70 per cent of the overseen polling stations has been good, in 28 per cent satisfactory and in five per cent of the cases irregularities have been found. As regard the kind and amount of the irregularities noticed, the CE admitted that "in three polling stations there have been limited and slight irregularities, while only in one polling station the irregularities have been considered grave and significant". The general assessment of the vote counting process according to the CE delegation observation has been 60 per cent good, 38 per cent satisfactory and two per cent bad. According to them "in one polling station the procedure of the vote counting has been unacceptable". The CE observers appreciated the fruitful cooperation with the PCEC with all the political parties as well as the effective cooperation with other foreign delegations, present in Albania, as in the case of the Italian delegation, which through 56 teams with three people each, monitored the elections in 881 polling stations all over the country. pas/lm/Z/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[10] PRESIDENT BERISHA MEETS WITH DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE CANADIAN PARLIAMENT MR DAVID KILGOURTIRANA, OCT. 22 (ATA) - Albanian President Sali Berisha met with deputy president of the Canadian Parliament, Mr David Kilgour, President's press and information office reports.After voicing his gratitude for the assistance and support of the Canadian government and institutions for Albania in a difficult period of its history, President Berisha appreciated the contribution in the field of education and health care. Mr Kilgour highlighted the extraordinary changes of Albania in the past four years and congratulated Mr Berisha for the important victory in the local vote. "The result in the majority system in these elections," said Berisha, "shows that DP has won a much higher percentage as compared with May 26, 1996 elections and for this we are grateful to all the Albanian electorate for the faith they had in the Democratic Party." ake/xh/k Albanian Telegraphic Agency[11] INTERNATIONAL REPUBLICAN INSTITUTE NOTES A MARKED IMPROVEMENT IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESSTIRANA, OCT. 22 (ATA) - By R Floqi: The International Republican Institute (IRI) noted a marked improvement in the electoral process for local elections on October 20, 1996 over the troubled process observed during May 26, 1996 Parliamentary elections, a statement of this Institute distributed today for media reports.IRI financed a mission to observe the local vote in Albania on October 20, 1996. The IRI delegation was led by former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defence and Ambassador to NATO William Taft IV. Teams of observers were deployed throughout Albania and visited 116 polling stations. They visited the following cities and their surrounding regions: Tirana, Shkodra, Elbasan, Berat, Gjirokastra, Fier, Peshkopi, Dibra and Pogradec. According to the report, the IRI delegation did see a number of irregularities in the implementation of the election law and troubling incidents of intimidation. However, these irregularities do no appear to threaten the legitimacy of the election." "Although sometimes noting minor irregularities, almost without exception the Socialist and other opposition party members of the commissions failed to report problems of a nature or extent that would threaten the legitimacy of the election," said observers who had privately interviewed opposition party members of commissions to identify problems and issues. "The greater participation of the minority parties in the preparation and administration of the election appears to have served its purpose of assuring more care and integrity in the process," says the IRI declaration. "The Socialist party appeared to have taken full advantage of the more timely publication of the voter lists by attempting to verify the accuracy of those lists. It reported a troubling number of inaccuracies, such as inclusion of names of deceased persons and emigrants," says the declaration. "By rigorously requiring submission of proper identification, however the voting commissions seem to have largely eliminated opportunities to vote in the place of improperly listed persons," says the declaration. It writes of "a number of incidents of harassment and intimidation of opposition leaders and opposition members of the local voting commissions," of which IRI observers have been informed, adding that "these isolated and apparently uncoordinated incidents appeared to have no direct effect on the voting results." kei/xh/k Albanian Telegraphic Agency[12] COUNCIL OF EUROPE DELEGATION SATISFIED WITH THE CONDUCT OF THE LOCAL ELECTIONS IN ALBANIATirana, 22 OCT (ATSH) - The Council of Europe delegation which monitored the elections in Albania on 20 October 1996 is satisfied with the conduct of the elections, although it regrets that there were some instances of irregularities serious enough to warrant careful examination by the Central Electoral Commission.The delegation believes that the elections were free and fair. They reflected the will of the electorate and were also the product of through administrative and technical preparations that very largely complied with the requirements laid down by the Parliamentary Assembly in September 1996. The most important of these requirements, taken on board by the President of the Republic of Albania, was to convene a Round Table with all political parties, which has determined the climate of the elections. The delegation notes that these elections were preceded by a peaceful election campaign free of any significant incidents, and that cooperation within the polling stations on polling day was generally good. The Council of Europe delegation hopes to have made a contribution to the consolidation of democracy in Albania. It welcomes the fruitful cooperation with the Central Electoral Commission and all political parties. The Council of Europe delegation draws attention to the support from several other election - monitoring delegations present in Albania with which effective cooperation developed. A joint report by the Council of Europe delegation will be presented to the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe. It will give a detailed assessment of the monitoring and set out constructive proposals on how certain shortcomings identified can be overcome. During the observation of the elections, the CE delegation reached the conclusion that the result of the voting procedure implementation in 70 per cent of the overseen polling stations has been good, in 28 per cent satisfactory and in five per cent of the cases irregularities have been found. As regard the kind and amount of the irregularities noticed, the CE admitted that "in three polling stations there have been limited and slight irregularities, while only in one polling station the irregularities have been considered grave and significant". The general assessment of the vote counting process according to the CE delegation observation has been 60 per cent good, 38 per cent satisfactory and two per cent bad. According to them "in one polling station the procedure of the vote counting has been unacceptable". The CE observers appreciated the fruitful cooperation with the PCEC with all the political parties as well as the effective cooperation with other foreign delegations, present in Albania, as in the case of the Italian delegation, which through 56 teams with three people each, monitored the elections in 881 polling stations all over the country. Deputy chairman of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, Alain Chenard said that a judgment will be declared after complaints will be examined, according to the Albanian election law, because this is how democracy functions. On the basis of concrete proposals to improve the election law, according to Ruffy, some practical difficulties have been overcome. But irregularities were noted in the spread of instructions on elections and the voting process and secondly, there rose the need for accuracy and precision of some terms which he considered as ambiguous. In the context of general considerations on the Albanian election law, Chenard added that it would have been better if the law rules out "the creation of the polling stations in private homes, but the political will will improve everything." For Chenard who made a comparative analysis of the elections in the East European countries, important for Albania was the creation of a new experience, with irregularities which are now improved conformed to the election law. Asked about a mark for the latest elections, the British rapporteur Lady Ferrington said that although one cannot give marks for the considerations on the election process, it would be one of the highest marks." pas/kei/lm/xh/k Albanian Telegraphic Agency[13] EUROPEAN INSTITUTE OF MEDIA ON LOCAL VOTE COVERAGE BY ALBANIAN MEDIATIRANA, OCT. 22 (ATA) - Albanian Radio television has made a correct coverage of the electoral campaign of the position and opposition parties, even beyond existing possibilities, says a report of the European Institute of Media (EIM) which reflects the role of media during local elections held in Albania on October 20, 1996."We did not note any violation of the time set in radio and television for every party, in the coverage of the campaign they held," is a conclusion of the EIM report after local vote in Albania. The press continues to be polarized in the progovernment and opposition camps undertaking personal attacks at a suspicious ethic level. By reporting with loyalty to their political camp, reporters write stories which are not accurately confirmed and try to stir up the strategic political fight, the report says. Nevertheless, Albanian media reflects the tendencies of Albanian political culture, says the EIM report. kei/xh/k Albanian Telegraphic Agency[14] EDU CHAIRMAN HAILS DP ON ITS VICTORY IN LOCAL VOTETIRANA, OCT. 22 (ATA) - The chairman of EDU (European Democratic Union,) Dr Alois Mock, has hailed the Democratic Party of Albania on the local vote of Oct. 20, 1996, DP press department reports today.In his letter to the DPA chairman, Tritan Shehu, in the name of EDU, Mr Mock writes that the DP victory in these elections is in the course of its successful political and economic line followed in the country, which has in the agenda the welfare of the individual and the economic development of Albania. Then, Mr Mock expressed his conviction that by following the initiated road of political pluralism, the market economy and the social progress, the Democratic Party will really carry Albania towards the West and the countries with democratic traditions. ssh/ kei/xh/k Albanian Telegraphic Agency[15] U.S. EMBASSY HAS NO REMARKS ON THE LOCAL VOTE IN ALBANIATIRANA, OCT. 22 (ATA) - No remarks on the way how local elections were held last Sunday in Albania, said the political secretary of the U.S. Embassy in Albania, Lynn Gurian, in a meeting she had with the Organizational Secretary of the DPA, Ylli Vejsiu, in the DPA headquarters in Tirana today."According to our observers, everything has gone on well," said Mrs Gurian in the name of the U.S. Embassy in Tirana, which has monitored with great interest the 13 voting hours and the counting of votes of the Albanians for local government. A very calm climate, a very normal ballot counting process and a very good participation were the conclusions of the observations of elections by this embassy. Vejsiu briefed Gurian of the preliminary results, not official, of the Democratic Party on the local vote, according to which DP has won in most of the town-halls and communes. Mrs Gurian appreciated the real victory of the DPA. Vejsiu also said that DPA would be more and more committed to a round table of the parties on political problems and the work to make the opposition conscious of its participation in the parliament as an indispensability for it itself. ssh/kei/xh/k From the Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA) Home Page at http://www.telpress.it/ataAlbanian Telegraphic Agency Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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