The Central Election Commission, together with the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and the Center for the Rule of Law at the University of Helsinki, organized the discussion and consultation table, “Balance between self-regulation and legal regulation in election campaigns, ahead of the parliamentary elections of 2025”.
The aim of this activity is to discuss on two different approaches, but at the same time complementary, on online campaigns such as self-regulation and legal regulation. The conference aimed to analyze how self-regulation and greater legal regulation can go hand in hand to support the development of transparent and fair election campaigns in Albania.
Together with Mr. Ilirjan Celibashi, State Commissioner of Elections, Mrs. Tuija Brax, Director of the Rule of Law Center, University of Helsinki, Mr. Sam Van Der Staak, Director of the Regional Program for Europe, International IDEA, Mr. Kreshnik Radoniqi, Chairman of the Central Election Commission of Kosovo, international experts, representatives of state institutions, political parties, international and local civil society participated and exchanged ideas and experiences.
The emergence and development of social media over the last decade has changed the way electoral campaigns are conducted. The rapid pace of digitization of political campaigns has brought the important dilemma: can the transparency and fairness of electoral campaigns be achieved through self-regulation or regulation and can (or should) the legal framework follows the challenges posed by an ever-evolving environment.
Attendees agreed that voluntary, self-regulatory and non-competitive mechanisms should be seen as complementary to regulatory instruments in the hands of oversight agencies/institutions and that interagency cooperation is necessary to address complex challenges.
Alongside the experiences of the European Parliament elections of 2024, and of several member states of the European Union, the joint initiative with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) for the Code of Conduct in the online election campaign was also discussed.
In Albania, together with Center for the Rule of Law in Finland and the National Democratic Institute, International IDEA is drawing on previous experience in Dutch and European elections to draft a similar code of conduct ahead of the 2025 parliamentary elections.
