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OSCE urges swift progress on voter lists and calls for dialogue with Parliamentary Committee
TIRANA 17 March 2005
TIRANA, 17 March 2005 - In a joint statement, the OSCE Presence in Albania and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today encouraged all relevant Albanian institutions to strengthen their efforts to prepare voter lists.
They also reminded local government units of their ultimate responsibility for the content and the quality of voter lists in their municipalities and communes.
The Presence and the ODIHR recalled that preparation of voter lists should be based on the results of the registration process carried out under the Law on the Verification, Identification and Registration of Citizens, adopted in October 2004.
They also call on the Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization to swiftly establish a mechanism in the General Directorate of the Civil Registry for the elimination of all duplicates in the voter lists that are currently being compiled by local government units.
The Acting Head of the OSCE Presence, Alex Finnen, said the Presence was ready to offer broad support to the establishment and to the running of such a mechanism, which would come within the framework of a project financed by the European Commission.
"This mechanism should provide maximum transparency and should be accessible for all major stakeholders of the process, notably including representatives of the opposition," he added.
Both the OSCE Presence and the ODIHR urged all political actors and institutions not to over-politicize the ongoing process of voter lists compilation, while the OSCE Presence stands ready to look into any allegations of irregularities and fraud in this process.
In this context, the Presence and the ODIHR also welcomed the establishment of the parliamentary ad-hoc committee to monitor the process of electoral preparations and encouraged all Albanian institutions involved in election preparations to show transparency and co-operate with the committee on cross-checking of duplicates in voter lists in the Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization.
They also reminded local government units of their ultimate responsibility for the content and the quality of voter lists in their municipalities and communes.
The Presence and the ODIHR recalled that preparation of voter lists should be based on the results of the registration process carried out under the Law on the Verification, Identification and Registration of Citizens, adopted in October 2004.
They also call on the Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization to swiftly establish a mechanism in the General Directorate of the Civil Registry for the elimination of all duplicates in the voter lists that are currently being compiled by local government units.
The Acting Head of the OSCE Presence, Alex Finnen, said the Presence was ready to offer broad support to the establishment and to the running of such a mechanism, which would come within the framework of a project financed by the European Commission.
"This mechanism should provide maximum transparency and should be accessible for all major stakeholders of the process, notably including representatives of the opposition," he added.
Both the OSCE Presence and the ODIHR urged all political actors and institutions not to over-politicize the ongoing process of voter lists compilation, while the OSCE Presence stands ready to look into any allegations of irregularities and fraud in this process.
In this context, the Presence and the ODIHR also welcomed the establishment of the parliamentary ad-hoc committee to monitor the process of electoral preparations and encouraged all Albanian institutions involved in election preparations to show transparency and co-operate with the committee on cross-checking of duplicates in voter lists in the Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization.