The Central Elections Commission in cooperation with International IDEA and the Rule of Law Center in Finland organised a round table with topic ” Oversight of election campaign in Digital Era: an opportunity to enhance Regulation and Transparency in Albania” .
This meeting was held in the plenary session of the CEC, with the participation of representatives of political parties, NGOs, civil society, META/ Facebook companies, election auditors, finance officers of political parties and international experts.
The new challenge of massively held on line election campaigns and how political actors are increasingly spending money in this sphere, was at the focus of this event. On line campaign often operates in an environment with no clearly defined rules, where negative actors militate, therefore oversight institutions find it difficult to keep up with the dynamic pace of changes in this digital environment.
In order to analyze the above challenges through a deep research into the specific problems that Albania is faced with, International IDEA and the Center of Rule of Finland conducted a research on “Management of the Election Campaign in the Digital Era: Perspectives for Enhanced Regulation and Transparency in Albania”.
During the round table, the preliminary findings of the study were shared with the actors interested in election processes.
The State Election Commissioner Mr. Ilirjan Celibashi described as the biggest challenges the absence of quick changes in the current legislation to reflect the developments in the field of on line campaigns, the lack of oversight capacity, failure to observe electoral silence, illegal campaigning and on line expenses by third parties as well as incorrect reporting of expenses in social media.
Commissioner Celibashi highlighted that ” It is necessary to improve the legal framework, to enhance the capacity of oversight bodies, to set clear standards of transparency to ensure the integrity of the election process and to increase credibility in politics”.
The Program Officer of International IDEA, Mrs. Blerta Hoxha underlined the importance of addressing in the future election reform, the challenges our country is facing regarding on line election campaigns and expenses of political parties/ candidates in electronic platforms.
The participants shared their views on how to address the issues related to conducting on line election campaigns. They agreed on organizing follow up meetings, as an effort to collaborate and to contribute with recommendations in reforming the regulatory framework in Albania on financing of On line Election Campaigns.
This event was held in the framework of the project “Integrity and Trust in Albanian elections: Promoting Transparency of Political Finances and Safe Use of Information and Communication Technologies ” organised by International IDEA and Rule of Law Center in Finland, with the CEC as direct beneficiary.
