OSCE: Elections, test for Albanian politics

Roberto Batelli, special coordinator of the OSCE, who will lead the short-term mission of the election observation mission, refused to answer to Top Channel since his first day in Tirana.

Batelli preferred to send him a declaration in which he says: “These elections will be another test about the readiness of the political actors in Albania, and their willingness to contribute in an active and constructive way for the country’s institutions, despite the political competition and the different interpretation of the laws. The main objective of the OSCE is to enable citizens to measure the performance of political runners. They also must make sure that the electoral process will not be prejudged. An electoral campaign filled with claims about irregularities would confuse voters even more, and would block Albania’s European Union path”.

During his visit in Tirana, Batelli will meet Prime Minister Berisha, the opposition leader, Edi Rama, and other officials included in the electoral process.

The final report for the June 23rd elections will be planned by the short-term mission of observers which is under the dependance of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, which is led by the Austrian Wolfgang Grossruck. Roberto Batelli, a Slovenian Parliament Member, and who serves as Head of Treasury at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. The suspicions about his close relations with Grossruck increase after Batelli visited Albania in 2010 and release a statement in favor of Grossruck’s report, who considered the elections of 2009 regular. Batelli made his support official on the OSCE website. Batelli was appointed as the man that will present the preliminary election report on June 24th. Outside the cameras Batelli declared for Top Channel that he will not be judged. “Wait for the report and then give your evaluations”, he underlined.