Legal Opinions and Comments

The Joint Opinion raises key issues and provides indications of areas of concern. The ensuing recommendations are based on international standards, norms and practices, as for example set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights and its additional protocols, as well as the relevant OSCE human dimension commitments, and the Venice Commission’s Code of good practice in electoral matters. The Joint Opinion also highlights, as appropriate, good practices from other Council of Europe member states and OSCE participating States in this field

The Opinion raises key issues and provides indications of areas of concern. In the interest of conciseness, it focuses more on areas that require amendments or improvements than on the positive aspects of the Draft Law. The ensuing recommendations are based on international human rights standards and obligations, OSCE human dimension commitments, and good national practices. Where appropriate, they also refer to the relevant recommendations made in previous legal opinions published by OSCE/ODIHR and/or the Venice Commission.

The scope of this Joint Opinion covers only the constitutional and legislative revisions officially submitted for review (“the amendments”). In particular, it will not address the amendments brought by law No. 101/2020 adopted on 23 July 2020. Thus limited, the Joint Opinion does not constitute a full and comprehensive review of the entire legal and institutional framework governing elections in Albania.