The final numbers for Albania’s general elections are not yet out, in my perspective the most important issue is the election process itself since the political options presented by both the right and left, do not present any improvements. At least not sufficient since what they have to offer is already old repackaged stuff.

With regard to the success or not, of the process there is no one else better the OSCE to issue a statement or final verdict, that is why I would like to forward on to you a preliminary statement made today:

In a statement issued today, the International Election Observation Mission concluded that Albania’s election process demonstrated improvements, but also noted that violations persist.

The observers said the elections marked tangible progress with regard to the introduction of new voter registration and identification procedures, and the adoption of an improved legal framework.

But the observers also noted that these improvements were overshadowed by the politicization of technical aspects of the process and violations observed during the campaign which undermined public confidence in the electoral process.

Election day was overall calm and peaceful and the atmosphere was improved. Observers assessed the voting process slightly more positively than in previous elections, but noted procedural violations related in particular to inking procedures and widespread family voting.

The mission said it was too early to make a definite assessment, as the vote count and tabulation of results have yet to be completed.

“The country has matured, it has made progress, and many of the fears we had only some months ago have not materialized. I’m certainly happy about the progress we saw, but there is also a considerable number of issues that need to be tackled, in particular the polarized political climate,” said Wolfgang Grossruck, Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and Special Co-ordinator of the OSCE short-term observer mission.

“These elections demonstrated that the Albanian people has the whole potential for building a democratic society alike that in other European countries. Now there is a huge responsibility of the authorities and main political stakeholders to work hard in order to establish confidence among the citizens for a democratic electoral process,” said Corien Jonker, Head of the delegation of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly.

“Our report reveals positive but also some negative developments in the conduct of these elections. Progress has been achieved since the last parliamentary elections in 2005. However, greater efforts still need to be made by all political forces in order to meet demanding international standards,” said Bruce George, Head of the delegation of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

“The new electoral code agreed to by both main political parties introduced a number of important improvements and safeguards, in particular with regard to voter registration and identification. It is unfortunate that the high level of distrust among parties, the use of official events for campaign purposes and allegations of pressure on voters did not increase public confidence in the election process,” said Ambassador Audrey Glover, Head of the long-term election observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR).

This is the link to the original text: Improvements in Albania’s election process, but violations persist, observers say.

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I found this great presentational video for Albania. It is only 7:49 seconds long and it does a pretty good summary of the most important facts about anyone being introduced for the first time to Albania. However, it is also very good to have just for reference purposes.

Great Presentational Video for Albania

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Lately someone send me an email to let me know that there was a German guy who is mountainbiking from Greece to Lago di Guardia, in Italy which on his way there will also pass through Albania.

Immediately I was reminded of a friend of mine who, together with some friends, just a few months ago, took a similar trip from one end of Albania to the other.

In short, the German guy’s name is Stuntzi. he doesn’t really know where to ride through albania….

He is doing a live-report of his adventures in a mtb forum (mainly german, but lots of pictures): http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/showthread.php?t=396385

There is also an support-thread in an bosnian forum:
http://www.ciklocentar.com/forum/index.php?topic=2379.0

Maybe you have deep knowledge ‘about trails for mtbing in Albania or know the right people who can help this guy to find a way through….

Check out this link (in German) to see maps: http://www.alpenzorro.de/heraklix/

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May be you may have seen some crazy pictures from China or Cambodia of people carrying about 2000 empty bottles of water on their bicycle or stacking a bunch of chickens on their motorcycle, or even of the horse riding in the back of the car. You know the web is full of those pictures. Well, here in Albania we do not prefer either of those versions. Instead we are a little more creative and thus have decided to go for the cabriole Mercedes – you know the opened top version of cars.

I discovered this picture just today on Peshkupauje.com and thought it was hilarious as a transportation solution.  Who knows may be this thing might catch on and more people will start doing it, especially now during the summer .

I would love to see anyone try this in the middle of the Block area in Tirana.

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I cannot blame it on either of the political parties , however only today I realized that my RSS Feed was having trouble due to the changes that were made by my RSS service provider. So in turn subscribers may have not been getting any emails from the Blog. At least I know I was not getting any of the posts that I have made recently.

I apologize about this and hope that things will go smoothly from now on.

By the way, if you have not gotten any emails from the blog for some time, then I invite you back to visit: Albanian Blogger.

Regards,

Elvis

P.S. In the next days I will be updating my blog template. Not a major difference, just a facelift

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I have already set the dates that I will be on vacation this summer, however, I till now am quite undecided as to where I will go – in Albania or abroad.

The main issue obviously is balancing finances with the best places for vacation. Traditionally I have always spent many a weekend roaming the beaches of southern Albania and have had the chance to visit many of them. However, every time I’ve done that I have not been led by comfort as much as by the desire for adventure, moving from location to location, often one place in the morning and another one in the afternoon. However, this year I do not want to compromise very much the comfort aspect. So need to consider my options?

If I stay in Albania, Durres I don’t even consider as an option. The water is quite dirty and there are so many people and noise that you don’t get much time to relax. Read the rest of this entry »

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They are almost always free, innocent, oblivious, and look good if you line them up behind you when you’re giving a speech. You can find a lot of them in schools around the country and all you have to do is tell your politically appointed teacher or school director to round them up and bring them to your meeting.

I am talking about Albanian youth and politicians who use them for their own political campaigns, thus exploiting their innocence and youthful look to decorate their political stages while they fill you with ‘hope’ about what they are going to do in order to get your vote.

That is all that matters. Who cares if they are exploiting our youth and meanwhile saying anything necessary to ensure their own political future.

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