Parliamentary Elections, 24 June - 19 August 2001

Following an invitation from the Albanian Government, ODIHR deployed an election observation mission on 22 May to monitor the 24 June parliamentary elections.

Headed by Nikolai Vulchanov of Bulgaria, the mission was made up of 10 experts based in the Tirana headquarters and 18 long-term observers deployed throughout the country.

For the first round of voting on 24 June, the mission was joined by delegations from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, and the Organisation International de la Francophonie. Together, they deployed 250 short-term observers from 30 OSCE participating States.

For the second round of voting on 8 July and 22 July, ODIHR's mission was joined by a delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to deploy  130 short-term observers. On 22 July, some 48 short-term observers were deployed.

After the mission left Albania on 23 July, observation of voting on 29 July was co-ordinated by the OSCE Presence in Albania, which deployed 18 observers. For the voting on 19 August, the OSCE Presence deployed two observer teams for the sole unresolved election contest.

In September, ODIHR returned to Tirana for a series of consultations with political parties, the Albanian authorities, civil society and the international community. In addition, delegations from the opposition and the authorities visited ODIHR during the third and fourth weeks of September and provided additional documentation on various issues of concern.