A round table was organized today on digitalization of reporting and publication of political parties’ financing, organised by the Central Election Commission in cooperation with International Institution for Democracy and Election Assistance ( International IDEA) and the Center for the Rule of Law of Finland. The round table brought together the future main users of the digital system of reporting of finances, the CEC staff, political parties ‘ officials and civil society.

The CEC is working on building an online system to report the political parties ‘ financing and its goal is to standardize it, to facilitate the process of reporting , to provide clarity on what is required to be reported,  reflecting in real time the data which is reported ( whether it is an income/ donation or expense) , offering access to all parties, including the public that wants to consult the reports or evaluate them in real time.

The State Election Commissioner Mr. Ilirjan Celibashi highlighted that the digital system/module of financial reporting in general will consist in three components/ elements that will address:

1. The reporting process ( including all elements)by the parties and subjects;
2. The process if auditing and evaluation by the CEC;
3. The process of publication and access by all interested parties.

The digitalization process is supported by

IDEA International and the Center for the Rule of Law of Finland, which have looked into the current systems in consolidated democracies, particularly that of Finland and have presented short-term and long-term recommendations for Albania, and is funded by the Council of Europe.

Today’s discussions focused on the technical aspects and the expectations from this process from the perspective of the parties, the candidates who submit their financial reports, that of the CEC, as the responsible body for the processing, and the perspective of citizens and civil society, who want accessible data.

The publication and access into detailed information related to financing of political parties and candidates enables the monitoring by civil society organizations and the broader public and ensures accountability by all political actors.

An effective transparency to the public serves as a greater incentive for the candidates and political parties to comply with the regulations in force and helps to establish and maintain a fair climate of competition in politics.

The CEC, with the help of its partners, considers as priority the transparency of political financing and the further digitalization of the election process in Albania, relying on the positive experience of electronic identification of voters and counting of ballots.

The address of the State Election Commission, Mr. Ilirjan Celibashi in the round table “A digital system of reporting and publication of political financing in Albania”.