Thank you, Madame Chairperson.

The United States welcomes Ambassador Ahrens to the Permanent Council today. We would like to take the opportunity to express our gratitude to Ambassador Ahrens and to his dedicated staff in Albania for their tireless efforts over the past year. We believe the OSCE Presence in Albania is an outstanding example of the OSCE’s good work in Southeast Europe. We also welcome Ambassador Ahrens’ succinct, yet comprehensive, remarks in that spirit.

Madame Chairperson, we are generally pleased with the conduct of the second round of local Albanian elections. We join the ODIHR and OSCE Presence in concluding that the overall election process was calm and orderly and marked progress. In the past two weeks, Albania has taken an important step towards democracy.

Madame Chairperson, we take note of the Greek Ambassador’s immediately preceding remarks. We certainly must acknowledge that there were irregularities. We agree with ODIHR, for example, that the response of the Central Election Commission to complaints after the first round was not adequate. As an early step to be taken in preparation for the parliamentary elections next year, we would urge that the composition and qualifications of the current CEC be reviewed, and its effectiveness enhanced.

Significant voting irregularities reported in the area of Himara are of particular concern. International observers noted irregularities in three of the thirteen polling stations there, and emotional and nationalist rhetoric clearly contributed to a tense atmosphere. We have joined the OSCE Presence and others in urging the Albanian authorities to conduct a complete and transparent investigation of the irregularities in Himara. We are confident that this will be done. More broadly, we are committed to working with Albania to improve the electoral process with a view to parliamentary elections next spring.

We also call upon the Democratic Party, having missed an opportunity to bolster its democratic credentials by calling for a boycott of Round 2, to now take advantage of a fresh opportunity, and make clear that it will respect the results of the vote. We do not believe there is evidence to support the Democratic Party’s claims of massive fraud, and we hope that Democratic Party officials will recognize that the overall election results do indeed represent the will of the Albanian people.

To reaffirm what Ambassador Johnson said here two weeks ago after round one, we applaud the voters of Albania. I believe the seriousness and restraint they showed as they took to the polls in both rounds bodes well for the strengthening of democracy and rule of law in Albania. They have set a promising example, and have begun to build a strong positive foundation for national elections expected next summer.

Madame Chairperson, since it is clear that the work of the Presence involves far more than election preparation, I would like to make note of other Presence issues. We feel that the current work of both the headquarters and the field stations is of great value. Recognizing that many of the OSCE’s priorities in Albania next year will not necessarily be related to the elections, we hope the Presence, in Tirana and in the field, can maintain its expertise and efforts on a number of these priorities. Just to name a few, these include: support for the Weapons Collection program, continuing the Presence’s important coordination role for the Friends of Albania, monitoring and promoting good governance at the regional level, and helping local authorities better combat the tragic problem of trafficking in women.

Madame Chairperson, the Presence clearly has a vast amount of work ahead of it. But it also has already established an impressive track record of accomplishment, a sentiment I am sure all colleagues around the table share.