Celibashi seeks changes to the Electoral Code: To sanction the separation between state and ruling party

Five proposals to prevent misuse of administrative resources in elections. At the technical table of the Special Parliamentary Commission for Electoral Reform, the head of the CEC, Ilirjan Celibashi, requested changes to the Electoral Code to strengthen the separation between the state and the ruling party.

The misuse of state resources and the blurring of the dividing line between the state and the ruling party, highlighted as the main problems in the latest OSCE/ODIHR report, require immediate addressing. This is the assessment of the head of the CEC, Ilirjan Celibashi. He is asking that the upcoming electoral reform strengthen legal guarantees in this regard and presents to political parties five concrete proposals. The first is the clear definition in the Electoral Code of the notion of “administrative and/or state resources.”

“This notion should include public funds, public assets, state vehicles, public buildings, administration personnel, electronic systems of institutions, state databases, official websites of public institutions and officials, institutional platforms on social networks, public communication campaigns, ceremonial activities, public programs, and any other institutional authority deriving from the exercise of public office. Such a definition should be placed directly in the Electoral Code and not be part of secondary legislation,” said Ilirjan Celibashi.

Celibashi also demands that the new Electoral Code clearly sanction the principle of separation between the state and the ruling party.

“In many OSCE countries, this is a principle with constitutional or legal value. Even in Albanian legislation, steps should be taken in this direction. Such a provision would serve as a basic norm upon which the entire administrative control system would be built,” he added.

Although the Electoral Code provides for a four-month moratorium on the prohibition of promoting certain public activities that could create an advantage for the ruling party, Celibashi demands that the boundaries of these activities be defined even more clearly.

“It should be clearly defined that during the election period, except for necessary cases of public interest or emergencies, the inaugurations of public works, promotional ceremonies of public investments, activities for presenting new projects funded by the state budget, the announcement of new subsidy or grant schemes, as well as the ceremonial distribution of individual administrative acts, are not allowed when this is not dictated by legal obligations or unavoidable deadlines. Also, there must be provisions that prohibit the publication of the activity of public institutions during a certain period, except when this is intended to inform the public about a concrete issue,” said the head of the CEC.

“There is no reason to publicize in any form the inspections of public works, even when they are genuine,” he added.

Celibashi also proposes a special regulation for institutional communication on official websites of institutions, social networks, public communication campaigns, audiovisual materials funded by public funds and institutional digital communication, as according to the head of the CEC, it has become the most sophisticated form of use of administrative resources.