Albanian Electoral Assistance Program
15 May 2000 – Information and Update

Request from Government for Electoral Assistance

The idea of the Electoral Assistance Program originated in late 1999 following a request to UNDP from the Ministry of Local Government to generate a computerized list of eligible voters for the forthcoming Local Government Elections by establishing a new data processing center. After an assessment mission to Albania by the UN Electoral Assistance Division, UNDP agreed to assist the Ministry in this task, as an interim measure, pending the establishment of the Central Election Commission and the legislative framework foreseen in the Constitution.

Joint initiative

At an early stage, it became very clear that the assistance required by the Government called for a broad co-ordination of all efforts by national and international organizations involved in the electoral process in Albania. As a result, the Program developed into a joint initiative between UNDP, OSCE, which has a regional mandate in managing elections, and USAID, which through IFES supports institution building efforts in this area.

The international community has fully supported this program of assistance, noting that the accuracy and reliability of electoral lists have since the early 1990s been a major object of discord and disagreement in Albania. This situation can be corrected through the installation of proper procedures and the computerization of data.

Transparency proposed

Traditionally, and in accordance with electoral law, voters’ lists have been drawn up by the local authorities in the weeks leading up to elections, on the basis of data copied manually from the civil registries. This method of preparing lists is incompatible with the population movements in a modern society.

The Electoral Assistance Programme is designed to modernize this procedure through the production of a preliminary list of eligible voters which reflects with much greater accuracy the presence of individuals of voting age (18 years and older) within electoral units. This list will be produced through a sequence of activities including: obtaining the most recent civil status information, checking it through a nationwide door-to-door enumeration procedure, and processing and storing the data in electronic form. The updated information will be cross-checked through a new central database, to ensure that people who have changed residence are listed only at their new location.

The preliminary list of eligible voters will then be sent back to the local authorities, to be posted and reviewed locally so that members of the public will be able to confirm that their own name appears correctly on the list. All corrections will then be sent back to the central database, and the data will be entered and cross-checked again. The result will be a more accurate national voters’ register. Computerization of the civil status and electoral data allows the achievement of this goal.

The Electoral Assistance Programme was approved by the Council of Ministers in January 2000 and presented to the political parties at a Round Table organized by the OSCE. At the time, the political parties welcomed this initiative. Since the outset of the project formulation, the need to keep all interested parties fully informed of the technical developments of the Programme has been a primary concern. The Management Board includes representatives from key line Ministries, representatives of the Association of Mayors, UNDP, OSCE and USAID and is chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister.

Progress to date

Programme activities started in late February 2000, with the printing of the Social Insurance Institute (SII) database, and the recruitment of project personnel. The Social Insurance Institute was used as a reference point in the early stage of the project because it had the most complete computerized, centralized database in the country. The project personnel includes national experts in project management and data processing, as well as international experts in voter registration and enumeration, headed by a Chief Technical Advisor. At present, the printing of the SII database is complete and the input forms have been sent to each local civil registry office for updating and matching. The procedures for door-to-door enumeration have been approved by the Council of Ministers and the enumeration is expected to proceed in June under the supervision of local authorities. International observers will be involved in monitoring of the door-to-door enumeration. The updated information gathered through this procedure will become the basis of a new, computerized national voters’ register.

At this stage of the Programme, the progress of the activities is in the hands of the local authorities. Their willingness and ability to conclude the update of the civil registries, and conduct the door-to-door enumeration, is vital.

Legal basis

The Electoral Assistance Programme is progressing on the basis of decrees of the Council of Ministers, because electoral legislation is in the process of being adopted. The new Electoral Law was approved by Parliament in early May 2000 and will enter into force shortly. The preliminary voters’ list that will be produced by the Programme will be reviewed and approved by local authorities. This will serve as the input for the preparation of the final voters’ lists, which will be drawn up under the new legislation.

Financing

Funding has come from a variety of sources and is still being sought. The overall budget is US$2.9 million. To date, UNDP has advanced or collected from donors US$800,000; USAID has offered to provide US$1,000,000 through IFES; and, negotiations are under way for a further US$1,100,000 which is expected to be mobilized from other donors and sources including Government cost-sharing.

Long-term benefits for Democracy in Albania