Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

ODIHR election experts visited Tirana from February 18 to 26 in order to support efforts by the OSCE Presence in Albania to follow-up on the recommendations contained in the ODIHR Final Report on the 2001 parliamentary elections.

While those elections represented progress in Albania, they also suffered from serious shortcomings to which ODIHR has pointed. The recommendations by ODIHR to address these issues have yet to be addressed.

The recommendations as set out in the ODIHR report on the elections need to be implemented immediately.

Under the current framework, elections remain vulnerable to manipulation, particularly at the local level. Therefore, the overriding idea of electoral reform should be to minimize the ability of the governing party to manipulate elections.

In this sense, it is in the clear interests of the opposition Democratic Party to want this reform. But it is also in the interests of the Socialist Party, as the governing party, to want it as well, since the international community will not countenance more manipulation or recognize elections not fairly conducted.

One of the most important reforms is having elections on one day throughout the country with any run-offs also on a single day. The 2001 general elections were marred when a series of run-offs led to progressively more dubious outcomes.

ODIHR and the OSCE Presence stand prepared to assist Albania in implementing these recommendations. However, Albanian authorities need to take the lead for such an effort to be successful. We therefore urge the authorities in Albania to take concrete measures in cooperation with ODIHR and the OSCE Presence so that future elections will enjoy the full respect of both Albanian society and the international community.