On 29 June 1997 the first round of a national election was held in Albania concurrently with a referendum on the restoration of the monarchy (AFP 4 July 1997; The Independent 7 July 1997; Xinhua 3 July 1997; DPA 29 June 1997). A second round of the election (not the referendum) was held on 6 July 1997 (ibid.; The Independent 7 July 1997).

The election was observed by representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) (CSCE July 1997; OSCE n.d.). Although the referendum on the monarchy took place at the same time as the first round of the election, observation of the referendum was not included in the mandate of the OSCE (ibid.).

A July 1997 report on the Albanian election from the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) of the US Congress stated that voters were given two separate ballots: one for the election and one for the referendum. The instructions on how to mark the two ballots were identical, however, which may have caused confusion, according to the CSCE:

The voters were generally informed on voting procedures, although there were difficulties. Family and group voting, typical in elections in countries of the region, remained pervasive. In response to criticism of the old Albanian tradition of crossing out the names of candidates or parties the voter did not want, the one that he or she desired now had to be selected using a check mark, or a plus or minus sign. This caused some confusion, and evidently led to many invalidated ballots. Some foreign observers also felt that the option of a plus or a minus sign might have caused confusion, as they meant the same in terms of marking the ballot but normally are viewed as opposites of each other. Some observers also felt that having two votes on one ballot, one for a candidate and another for a party, might have been more confusing for voters than having two separate ballots. The second ballot given to the voters, regarding the referendum, was clearer; the voters had to choose between a republic or a monarchy. Monarchy supporters, however, claimed the "plus" and "minus" signs invalidated a particularly high number of ballots cast in their favor, as voters used both to indicate their choice for one and against the other (CSCE July 1997).

The CSCE report added that

Several international voices, including the Swiss Chair-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, called for a partial or complete rerun of the elections. Albanian officials dismissed the idea, however, alleging that the opposition Socialists had manipulated the foreign observation effort (ibid.).

However, in their Final Report, the OSCE's Special Coordinator and Parliamentary Troika of the International Election Observation for Albania (Catherine Lalumiere, Sir Russell Johnston and Javier Ruperez), noted that, despite a number of problems, "observers indicated that there were no serious technical violations of the voting process," and concluded that "the elections can be deemed as acceptable" (OSCE n.d.).

On 14 July 1997 Albania's Central Election Commission stated that the result of the referendum was 66.74 per cent in favour of a republic, although the pretender to the Albanian throne, Leka I, son of the former King Zog, claimed that the monarchist side was fraudulently deprived of victory in the referendum (ibid.; Albanian Radio 14 July 1997; AFP 4 July 1997). Leka alleged that 200,000 referendum ballots were stolen and others destroyed (AFP 1 July 1997). A representative to the Central Election Commission from the Party of Legality Movement stated that "about 200,000" referendum ballots were missing, among them 30 per cent of the referendum ballots in the Kukes district and 5,000 referendum ballots in the Has district (ATA 29 June 1997).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

Agence France Presse (AFP). 4 July 1997. Adrian Brown. "Albanian Election Results Under Attack from Berisha Camp." (NEXIS)

_____. 1 July 1997. Adrian Brown. "High Ranking Officials Close to President Berisha Flee Albania." (NEXIS)

Albanian Radio [Tirana, in Albanian]. 14 July 1997. "Final Results of Referendum." (BBC Summary 16 July 1997/NEXIS)

Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA). 29 June 1997. R. Floqi. "KQZ Notes 'Great Irregularities' in Monarchy Vote Slips." (FBIS-EEU-97-180 29 July 1997/WNC)

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). July 1997. "Albania's Parliamentary Elections of 1997." http://www.house.gov/csce/alb97el.htm [Accessed 4 Jan. 2000]

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). 29 June 1997. BC Cycle. "Albanians Go to Polls to Elect New Parliament in Early Elections." (NEXIS)

The Independent (London). 7 July 1997. Andrew Gumbel. "Son of Zog Makes Grab for Limelight; Andrew Gumbel Reports on a Royal Threat to Orderly Transition of Power in Albania." (NEXIS)

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). n.d. "Albania Parliamentary Elections June 29, 1997." http://www.osce.org/odihr/election/alb2-3htm [Accessed 4 Jan. 2000]

Xinhua. 3 July 1997. "Gun-Battle Follows Monarchy Rally in Tirana." (NEXIS)