International Peer-to Peer Dialogue in Albania: Unlocking the Potential of Political Finance Reporting and Disclosure Systems
To support the efforts of the Albanian civil society organizations in their watchdog role and ability to track money flows in politics as well as to strengthen their capacities in making the best use of online systems, International IDEA and Rule of Law Centre of Finland, in partnership with Central Election Commission (CEC), hosted on April 19th in Tirana, a Peer–to–Peer dialogue between renowned international watchdogs and local actors on the potential of online political finance reporting and disclosure systems.
“Albania on the Global and European Perspective of Digitalization of Political Finance Reporting and Disclosure”, “Challenges of Navigating Large Amount of Data”, "How Political Finance Disclosure Prevents Corruption: lessons from using political finance data to spot corruption risks in Europe”, "Collaboration between EMBs and CSOs in Electoral Campaign Monitoring” were some of the topics on which representatives of Transparency International, Gong, Finnish EMB, Albanian EMB, Council of Europe Office in Tirana , Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN Albania), Women Network on Equality in Decision Making , Albanian Academy of Political Studies, Civic Resistance , Coalition for Reforms, Integration and Consolidated Institutions (KRIIK) exchanged their experience and views with one another.
International IDEA supports global efforts to improve political finance transparency, including in the Western Balkans, where the revised EU enlargement methodology has placed the issue amongst the Fundamentals of Democracy. The Central Election Commission in Albania has prioritized strengthening oversight of campaign political finances through digitalization.
From 2022, International IDEA in cooperation with Rule of Law Centre of Finland have committed to support the CEC, political parties and civil society by primarily introducing successful models and providing expertise on digitalizing political finance reporting and disclosure. Models of Digital Reporting and Disclosure of Political Finance -Latest Trends and Best Practices to Support Albania was published in 2022 to inform the work of CEC and other stakeholders and serve as a point of reference for future upgrades as the Albanian legislation on political finance transparency evolves over the years.
In early April 2023, Central Election Commission of Albania launched the Electronic Platform on Financial Reporting, built with the support of the Council of Europe (CoE) and EU Delegation. The platform has footprints and reference points from the expertise that International IDEA has provided. The online platform will be used for the first time for the upcoming Local Elections of 14 May 2023.
The International peer-to-peer dialogue of April 19th was organized in the framework of the project “Integrity and Trust in Elections in Albania: Fostering Political Finance Transparency and the Safe Use of Information and Communication Technologies” co-implemented with the Rule of Law Centre of Finland.
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