MEP Urges Albania Parties to Cut Crime Links

Eduard Kukan, former Slovak foreign minister and Member of the European Parliament, on Friday urged Albania's parties to respect the law and to fulfil promises to ban people with criminal backgrouns from holding or stand for office.  

Speaking ahead of the local elections, he called them "an important test for the consolidation of democratic processes in Albania and the country's further EU integration.

"I hope that Albania will manage to have free and fair elections in accordance with democratic standards. Only such elections can contribute to strengthening local democracy and voters' confidence in their representatives," Kukan said.

Albanians will vote on Sunday to elect 61 new mayors and about 1,600 members of local councils. About 60 parties are competing, divided into two main political coalitions.

The election campaign has been calmer than the previous one but a number of alleged irregularities have been registered, including manipulation of the electoral roll and allegations of vote buying and intimidation.  

"In this respect, I also recall the cross-party agreement from December 2014, which calls for the prevention of individuals with criminal backgrounds from holding public office," Kukan noted.

The opposition Democratic Party has withdrawn one candidate as a result of his conviction for drug trafficking in Italy. However, the ruling the Socialist Party denies having put up any candidates with a criminal background.

Following an investigation by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, which exposed the criminal backgrounds of several candidates running on Sunday, the Socialist Party on Thursday said that it was fielding "no candidates convicted by courts" and accused the media of conducting a witch hunt.

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