TIRANA, Sept 20 /ATA/ – A two-day workshop to discuss a regional perspective of challenges and good practices in electronic voter identification started in Tirana on Tuesday.
The event – organized by the OSCE/ODIHR and the OSCE Presence in Albania – is part of the “Support to Electoral Reforms in the Western Balkans” project, which is co-funded by the EU and the Austrian Development Agency.
The workshop is designed to share knowledge and draw conclusions for follow-up action on improving existing processes for electronic identification of voters, in alignment with ODIHR recommendations and OSCE commitments.
Participants include representatives of relevant institutions and election management bodies, civil society organizations, local and international experts.
Head of Presence Ambassador Vincenzo Del Monaco highlighted in his opening remarks the importance of accuracy in the electronic voter identification and prevention of malpractices in order to increase the trust of citizens in the system and the spirit of democracy in Albania.
He said that in Albania there is a strong political support for the electronic voter identification and for the electronic vote system in general, and praised the Central Election Commission’s (CEC) approach in support of the system, as well as the fact that the government secured funds for the process. He mentioned timely preparation, number of dedicated staff and their training, and voter education as among the challenges affecting not only Albania and the region but other countries as well.
Austrian Ambassador in Albania Christian Steiner said that Austria values the role of the OSCE in the Western Balkans, a region of priority for Austrian foreign policy. He said that the CEC, with support of the OSCE and other international actors, has been very active in advancing electoral reforms, and then focused on the voting from abroad.
Lenka Vitkova, Head of Justice, Home Affairs and Good Governance Section in the EU Delegation to Albania stressed the fundamental importance of elections and the quality of democracy for the EU integration process. She said that the political criteria, including the quality of democratic institutions, is among the first topics to start, to discuss throughout and the last topic to close, and fundamentally important for how far and how fast the EU accession process will go.
Deputy Head of Elections Department at the OSCE/ODIHR Ulvi Akhundlu pointed out that modern technologies are not a panacea to solve existing problems and challenges, on the contrary, they may further diminish the voter confidence if implemented in the wrong way.
“It should always be remembered that elections are actually about people, and it should stay like that even in the times of increased reliance on and use of modern technologies,” he said.
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