OSCE, EU and US Ambassadors in Albania Accused of Being Politically Bias

Tirana, Albania | Tirana Echo – The trio of EU, US and OSCE Ambassadors in Tirana are being accused of being politically bias in their support for Prime Minister Edi Rama as Albania prepares to elect a new President and go to elections without the main opposition block.

Coming out of a meeting today with EU Head of Delegation Romana Vlahutin, US Ambassador Donald Lu and OSCE Ambassador Bernd Borchard, representatives of several political parties have expressed reservations about their role during the pre-electoral process.

Head of the Demo-christian Party Nard Ndoka said that the OSCE Ambassador Borchard was the main culprit for the current crisis because “one year ago he said there’s no time for electronic voting, whereas today he said there is enough time. This is irresponsible.”

Adding to concerns after the meeting, Mesila Doda of the PDIU party in coalition with the socialists, said she had a very unfriendly conversation with OSCE Ambassador Borchard who had stated that “if the opposition does not participate at elections it would not be good, but this would only take one sentence in the final OSCE-ODIHR report,” adding that the request for more transparency, administration rights and guaranteed presence of all parliamentary parties during the counting process was ignored by the OSCE-ODIHR.

“Such behavior does not help the process and keep us out of it. Either all take part in the electoral process or such diplomats who are paid to serve here in Albania need to understand that they should help this country turn into a dictatorship and support an authoritarian regime,” – said Doda to the media.

In a separate official statement this afternoon, the main opposition Democratic Party said the EU Head of Delegation Romana Vlahutin had misinformed political representatives present in the meeting regarding the truth about last week’s EU mediated talks in Tirana.

“The Democratic Party expresses its deep concerns over the misinformation of smaller parliamentary party representatives from Eu Ambassador Vlahutin and emphasizes that such clearly bias and misinforming positions do not serve the political crisis, but deepen it even further,” – said the DP statement.

US, EU and OSCE diplomatic representatives are warning that the boycott of the opposition should not block elections.

“We are clear that elections would be better with all parties participating. But at the same time, elections would be legitimate even without the opposition’s participation.” – said US Ambassador to Tirana Donald Lu in an interview with the Voice of America yesterday.

In an immediate response to Donald Lu’s comments, opposition chairman Lulzim Basha said that “legitimacy does not mean justice. Segregation, Slavery and Nazism were also legitimate, but unfair.”

Local Albanian media are reporting that prime minister Edi Rama has started asking smaller parties to register as opposition players, with the view of replacing the democrats and give legitimacy to the electoral process.

However, analysts predict that the holding of elections without the participation of the Democratic Party and its smaller opposition allies, would send Albania to civil unrest and unpredictable turmoil, as the Socialist Party would acquire a mega-majority of Albania’s 140 seat Parliament.