[ALBSA-Info] Local Elections a Test of Albanian Democracy

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Local Elections a Test of Albanian Democracy

By Benet Koleka

  
TIRANA, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Albania's local elections on October 1 will be 
the first big test of its stability since the impoverished Balkan nation 
plunged into anarchy in 1997. 

The vote is being fought largely on national issues, with both main parties 
-- Prime Minister Ilir Meta's Socialists and former President Sali Berisha's 
Democrats -- treating it as a foretaste of next year's general election. 

The election in a country which has suffered periodic outbursts of political 
violence since it overthrew communism in 1991 is being watched closely by all 
those who are anxious to avoid another source of instability in a volatile 
region. 

``The question is simple,'' political analyst Remzi Lani told Reuters. ``Are 
Albanians capable of voting calmly, counting their votes without noise, 
declaring the winners without shooting in the air, and shaking hands 
afterwards?'' 

``If yes, all have won. If not, all have lost.'' 

For U.S. ambassador Joseph Limprecht, the local elections constitute a 
``significant test.'' 

``Albania has a great opportunity to demonstrate the democratic progress that 
has been made,'' Limprecht said. 

The last major test of voter sentiment, the general election of 1997, 
followed months of violence and chaos caused by the collapse of fraudulent 
pyramid investment schemes in which countless Albanians lost their life 
savings. 

Order was restored after the intervention of an Italian-led multinational 
force. 

SEMBLANCE OF ORDER 

Berisha was ousted by a Socialist-led coalition in an election described by 
international observers as ``adequate and acceptable'' given that it had 
taken place against an atmosphere of violence. 

But Berisha never accepted the result and his Democratic Party has boycotted 
parliament for much of the past three years. 

Campaigning this time has so far been fairly peaceful, with only a handful of 
minor shooting incidents reported -- hardly surprising in a country awash 
with half a million weapons looted in 1997 -- and no deaths or serious 
injuries. 

Some 2.3 million Albanians are entitled to vote for 65 mayors and 309 commune 
chairmen at 5,000 polling stations. 

Arben Loka, executive director of the Society for Democratic Culture, said 
the campaign was freer than that for the 1997 general election. 

Candidates can now travel comparatively freely across this wild and often 
lawless country in which politics is fundamentally divided along regional and 
clan lines, even venturing into areas controlled by their rivals. 

And the growth of private media outlets has made candidates less reliant on 
state-controlled radio and television to spread their message, Loka said. 

The campaign has been dominated by the bitter personal feud between Albania's 
dominant post-communist politicians -- former President Berisha, and veteran 
Socialist party leader and former Prime Minister Fatos Nano. 

Berisha accuses the Socialist-led government of manipulating the electoral 
register, compares ministers with the pigs in George Orwell's novel ``Animal 
Farm'' -- fat and corrupt -- and makes extravagant promises to boost pensions 
and wages. 

``These promises are real because the government will collapse after our 
victory and the country will prepare for general elections,'' Berisha said. 

SEEKING ROLE OF UNDERDOG 

Despite Socialist control of national power, Nano is trying to portray his 
party as the opposition on the grounds that the Democrats control 80 percent 
of municipalities. 

``We shall offer to the world the image of an Albania that is governed by 
wise and progressive people,'' said Nano, who spent four years in prison 
under Berisha on what many Albanians believe were trumped-up charges. 

The Socialists are pushing hard for the post of mayor of Tirana, which they 
have not managed to win in the past nine years, and are fielding Culture 
Minister Edi Rama, a painter. 

The Democratic candidate for this high-profile and influential role is Besnik 
Mustafaj, a writer and former ambassador to France. 

Reliable independent opinion polls are still a rarity in Albania so it is 
difficult to anticipate the result. 

Only one poll has been published in the independent Gazeta Shqiptare 
newspaper, which showed the Socialist candidate likely to win the race for 
mayor of Tirana but suggested the Democrats would control the city council. 

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the 54-nation 
security and human rights body which has played a key role in maintaining 
stability in Albania since 1997, plans to bring in 170 observers for the 
election. 

``What is very important to see for the first time in Albania is whether the 
defeated party will accept defeat,'' said Geert-Hinrich Ahrens, head of the 
OSCE mission to Albania. 

``This would be a very large step forward in this country.''