The State Election Commissioner, Mr. Ilirjan Celibashi met today with the Head of Council of Europe Office in Tirana, Mrs. Jutta Gützkow, accompanied by Mr. Olsi Dekovi, Deputy Head of CoE Office and Mrs. Liliana Kaçi, project officer “The Action against Economic Crime in Albania”.
The meeting was focused on future cooperation between the CEC and the Council of Europe.
Mr. Celibashi expressed his gratitude for the support provided to the CEC in the context of the project co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the CoE “Horizontal Instrument for Western Balkans and Turkey”-The Action against Economic Crime in Albania, as well as other implemented projects.
He highlighted that the Central Elections Commission will welcome the support provided by the international community and brought to the attention issues that remain key priorities such as financing of political parties, decriminalization, gender equality, training of election administration and other issues.
Celibashi stated that it is to everyone’s interest to work as a team, with each partner focusing on specific issues and in coordination with each other.
The Head of Office, Mrs. Jutta Gützkow expressed the will of CoE for further cooperation with the CEC. She underlined that coordination with partners is crucial in order to be more efficient and to have concrete project proposals.
Throughout the years, the Council of Europe in cooperation with other donors have provided the support to the CEC on training modules of election administration, technical assistance in drafting secondary legislations on financing of political parties and training of first time voters.
For April 25, 2021 elections, CoE and the Embassy of Netherlands will cooperate with the CEC regarding the monitoring of the amendments to by-laws due to changes in the Election Code, training of the media and civil society as important actors in the monitoring of election campaign.