Election administration and work of media during election campaigns focus of OSCE/ODIHR-supported workshops in Albania
Election administration and the work of the media during election campaigns were at the
centre of discussions during two workshops held in Tirana on 3 and 4 July 2018 respectively,
with the support of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)
and the OSCE Presence to Albania.
Within ODIHR’s project “Support to Elections in the Western Balkans”, the workshops were
part of the Office’s assistance to Albania’s Parliamentary Ad-hoc Committee on Electoral
Reform in following up on ODIHR electoral recommendations.
The first meeting brought together 35 participants, 18 women and 17 men, including
representatives of the Parliamentary Ad-hoc Committee, the Central Election Commission
and civil society organizations, as well as experts and practitioners from international
organizations. The key topics discussed included models of election management bodies and
the training of members of the election administration.
The second meeting gathered 51 participants, 30 men and 21 women, among whom were
representatives of the Audio-visual Media Authority and the Media Monitoring Board. The
key topics were editorial independence of the media, including during campaigns,
impartiality in campaign coverage and increasing the capacity of the public broadcaster.
“ODIHR has been co-operating closely with the Committee since its establishment, assisting
in the follow-up of electoral recommendations,” said Urdur Gunnarsdottir, Special Adviser to
the ODIHR Director. “We hope that these workshops contributed to useful discussions on
good practices and international standards. We now look forward to supporting the next stage
of the electoral reform process, including by providing advice on the drafting of legal
amendments.”
Ambassador Bernd Borchardt, Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania, said: “There is a
definite need for a thorough and timely reform, which will address the OSCE/ODIHR
recommendations from the three past electoral processes and will tackle key issues affecting
democratic elections. Together with ODIHR, we are offering our full support to the Albanian
parliament in carrying out such a reform.”
All OSCE participating States have committed themselves to promptly following up on
ODIHR’s election assessments and recommendations, and ODIHR has consistently supported
these efforts.
The Support to Elections in the Western Balkans project is funded by the European Union
and the Austrian Development Agency. It supports the Western Balkans countries in their
efforts to follow up on election observation recommendations in areas related to election
administration, voter registration and media coverage during election campaigns.