The Central Election Commission with the support of the Council of Europe Office in Tirana published today the CEC Strategic Plan for 2022-2026.

Present in the event were members of the CEC Administration, the Head of CoE Office, Mr. Jutta Gützkow, representatives of the diplomatic corps and international organizations working in the field of elections and democratization in Albania.

State Election Commissioner, Mr. Ilirjan Celibashi thanked the Council of Europe for the support it has given to the CEC and said that, this important document is prepared for the first time and is a product of a dynamic cooperation and coordination between the CEC administration and the international experts of the Council of Europe.

On behalf of the CoE, the Head of the CoE Office in Tirana Jutta Gutzkow, thanked the State Elections Commissioner Celibashi for the continuous partnership to further consolidating the CEC capacities and reconfirmed the CoE follow contribution in a number of specific areas, notably on the strengthening of the oversight capacities of the CEC for the control and verification of election campaign financial reports of electoral subjects, further improvement of the training and education capacities of the CEC as well as IT infrastructure.

Before drafting this plan, an analysis of strengths, risks, opportunities and capacities was carried out. This analysis identified the essential elements that served as the basis for improving the existing activity of the CEC administration.

The strategic plan covers more than one election cycle and the interim period to reduce the risk of changes that might come as a result of post-election assessments. The plan is also designed to be practical, with strategic guidance in order to be able to withstand and incorporate internal and external changes that do not require strategic policy review.

This strategic plan, which also entails the main stages for the implementation of the electoral process, detailed tasks for each organizational unit of the CEC and the relevant budgeting, aims at fulfilling with quality and accountability all the Electoral Code requirements for the CEC and the recommendations of OSCE-ODHIR, to unify the Commission’s activity with the best international practices in the field of elections.