Democratic Party Chairman Lulzim Basha thanked the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi for his support for the new electoral reform in Albania. Parties could not reach an agreement within the deadline of May 31, despite the readiness of the opposition to make all efforts to conclude the reform.

Basha repeated the opposition is committed for the conclusion of an electoral reform that would guarantee free and fair elections in the country.

“Thank you OliverVarhelyi for your commitment to an all-party consensus on the electoral reform in Albania. The opposition is fully engaged and contributing to conclude the reform with sufficient guarantees for a fair election process. This is important for Albanians to restore faith in the democratic process after the grave elections frauds and vote-buying scandals of past elections, and equally crucial in view of fulfilling important criteria out of the 15 conditions for the EU integration of Albania”, Basha tweeted on response to an earlier tweet from Varhelyi.

The Commissioner had tweeted:

“Electoral reform in #Albania: I encourage all parties, in and outside of the parliament, to still give it a try and come to an agreement. This is an important reform that needs delivering and it would be unfortunate to waste momentum. I hope for an agreement: this is crucial”.