The Electoral Code was adopted by Parliament on 19 June 2003, primarily on the basis of amendments to the previous law agreed consensually in a bipartisan parliamentary committee on electoral reform. This bipartisan committee was established on the suggestion of the OSCE/ODIHR Final Report on the 2001 Parliamentary Elections. All parliamentary parties were represented on this committee, which was co-chaired by the Socialist Party and the Democratic Party.[4] Amendments were approved with full consensus, in almost all cases[5], in accordance with a decision-making formula requiring a simple majority which included the votes of the two main political parties. The bipartisan committee addressed most of the recommendations of the OSCE/ODIHR Final Report on the 2001 Parliamentary Elections[6]. Two subsequent protocol agreements between the Socialist Party and the Democratic Party committed the signatories to address outstanding issues, notably election financing and electoral systems, after the 2003 local government elections. The text of the resultant SP-DP joint amendments, which deals with the three levels of election commissions and electoral zone boundaries, was included with the amendments approved by the bipartisan committee to form the new Electoral Code of Albania.[7] Although this new Electoral Code reflects most of the recommendations of the OSCE/ODIHR Final Report on the 2001 Parliamentary Elections, some amendments raise concern and require clarification. A number of significant issues remain to be addressed. The opportunity remains to address these issues prior to the Parliamentary elections scheduled for 2005.
