TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
AIS Newsletter July-August 2024
Misuse of Public Money during Elections; three NGOs propose legal revisions and Electoral Reform Public Consultation on the Anticorruption Draft-Strategy. AIS proposes the inclusion of State Owned Companies (SOC) in the list of high-risk sectors Citizen Participation for Equitable and Inclusive Budgeting: 107 activists participate in a Capacity Building Program in Northern Albania 
Misuse of Public Money during Elections; three NGOs propose legal revisions and Electoral Reform
Misuse of Public Money during elections, with the intent to corrupt voters, constitutes a phenomenon that poses risk to Fair Elections. Thus, three Civil Society Organizations have officially addressed this issue to the Parliament. AIS, promotor of Open Data Albania, the Association for Democratic Culture and Albanian Center for Economic Research (ACER) called on the Parliament to prioritize the amendment of Article 91, points 4 and 5, of the Law Nr. 10019/2008, the Electoral Code. This request aims to ensure the prevention of abusive use of public funds in favour of political parties’ interests during Elections. Payments from the State Treasury through individual grants during election periods risk creating unfair influence by the ruling political party. The AIS organization, earlier during the 2021 election campaign, reported and litigated cases of misuse of individual grants in such circumstances by the Municipality of Durrës. The misuse of Public Money during Election Campaigns is a high-risk issue that demands monitoring, response and public denunciation in the 2025 General Parliamentary Election Campaign.
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Public Consultation on the Anticorruption Draft-Strategy. AIS proposes the inclusion of State Owned Companies (SOC) in the list of high-risk sectors
AIS participated in the Public Consultation of the National Anticorruption Draft-Strategy, organized by the Ministry of State for Public Administration and Anti-Corruption. During the meeting, AIS requested the inclusion of a specific objective in the Strategy, namely: The De-politization and Improvement of Control and Integrity of State Owned Companies (SOC). The proposal was also submitted in written form , as part of the Consultation Strategy by Civil Society. The SOC sector has significant shortcomings in both managerial leadership and financial control. SOC administrators are appointed directly by the political leaders such as ministers and mayors, often without merit-based criteria. Since 2016, AIS has created a database with well-structured data on SOCs, with evidence on how these companies are managed and perform. Financial Control of the companies’ assets is lacking, while legislation regarding the privatization of state-owned properties is overlapping and incomplete.
Citizen Participation for Equitable and Inclusive Budgeting: 107 activists participate in a Capacity Building Program in Northern Albania
A total of 107 representatives from civil society and local media across various regions of the North Albania, calls for a more attentive Parliament to the need for budget support in small and suburban municipalities. As part of the consortium implementing the project Increasing Parliament's Responsiveness to Citizens' Concerns, supported by the British Embassy in Tirana, AIS has completed a series of training sessions with activists in Lezhë, Malësi e Madhe, Kamëz, Kukës , Shkodër and Peshkopi. The challenges related to emigration, population decline, educational infrastructure and social protection were topics where citizens are seeking more dialogue with the Parliament and Members of Parliament. Likewise, following the release of the 2023 Census results, many citizens from municipalities experiencing population decline have called for the revision of the Formula used to allocate Unconditional Transfers from the State Budget. Civil activists were trained for capacity building and understanding on instruments of citizens' participation in Parliament and dialogue for Equitable and Inclusive Budget Planning
Albanian Institute of Science
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