Accessibility links

Breaking News

Albania: OSCE Says Elections Won't Be Postponed


Tirana, 30 May 1997 (RFE/RL) - A top OSCE official said today there were no plans to postpone the June 29 elections in Albania despite security concerns and conficts among its political parties.

Herbert Grubmayr, deputy to OSCE Albania envoy Franz Vranitsky, told Reuters that a postponement of the vote would only heighten tensions. Grubmayr conceded, however, that security remained a major concern in parts of Albania and that preparations for the election were being hindered by the failure of political parties to provide essential information.

Teams of OSCE observers have been fanning out around Albania for a week now to monitor preparations for the election.

Meanwhile in Sintra, Portugal, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright proposed that NATO's military command send an assessment team to Albania to consider ways to restore "a functioning, democratically controlled military" in the country. Albright told the inaugural meeting of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council that the team should be sent "in the very near future."
XS
SM
MD
LG