Successful Roma Model

Transcription

1 Successful Roma Model of Political Representation Roma Participation in Local Elections 2007 Project May 2007 Center for Economic and Social Studies (CESS)

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3 Acknowledgement Catholic Relief Services and the Centre for Economic and Social Studies wish to acknowledge the tremendous effort of the Roma community in Elbasan for their tireless support in ensuring that the Roma voice was heard through its political representation. Not once did they hesitate to go doorto-door to conduct focus group discussions or extend invitations to rallies and other meetings or illustrate how the voting ballot would look or any number of the other activities, thereby demonstrating a profound commitment to pushing forward an agenda for the rights of Roma and other minorities in Albania. The Roma Independent candidate from Elbasan is to be commended for his integrity in withstanding political pressure and his commitment to issues facing the Roma people. To the Roma communities that came to support the Roma Elbasan candidate from other parts of the country during the closing campaign meeting we thank you for the distance traversed in the show of solidarity. And finally, this project initiative would not have been possible without the financial contribution and support of the British Embassy - Tirana and the Olof Palme International Centre / Sida. Their involvement testifies to their dedication of social inclusion for marginalized groups in Albania. Special thanks to Mr. Blendi Ceka - Political Scientist from the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tirana for providing his expertise in preparing this publication. 1

4 Why this initiative? The idea for this project originated from the social-economic-political context of the Roma minority in Albania. In the last decade, Roma issues in Albania have attracted the attention of numerous actors at the international and local levels, particularly as Albania moves toward EU and NATO integration. As a result there have been a considerable number of strategies designed and programs implemented in Albania addressing different aspects of the Roma minority. The main focus of these interventions has been the sustainable development and integration with mainstream Albanian society. What these programmes and strategies (initiated by the government or donors) have in common is that their commitment to ensure the long-term 1 financial sustainability is questionable. Despite the large number of strategies and programs, one of the aspects not specifically targeted has been Roma political participation and representation. Roma people have regularly voted in parliamentary and local elections during the past 16 years of democracy, but have not had the opportunity to vote for their own candidates. According to different Roma NGOs in Albania in formal and informal meetings the lack of Roma representation was addressed as a significant need among Roma communities. The main goal of the initiative, therefore, was to increase Roma participation and representation in the local elections of Roma Poverty and Roma National Strategies: The cases of Albania, Greece and Serbia. Minority Rights Group International, September 2005.

5 Legal framework: space to implement the initiative The legal framework of elections in Albania offers two possibilities for Roma candidates, as with any candidate interested in running for political office: firstly to run as an Independent candidate, and secondly to run on behalf of a political party. The Albanian Electoral Code allows every eligible citizen of Albania to run as an Independent candidate for head of a municipality or commune and for the respective councils. Taking into consideration the number of Roma in each commune and municipality, the best possibility for Roma to compete in the 2007 local election was to run for the commune and municipality councils. What made Elbasan municipality unique? There are four main reasons why the Elbasan municipality was selected as the best case to demonstrate the success of the project. Firstly, the number of Roma eligible to vote in this administrative unit was sufficient to ensure the election of one Roma representative to the city council. The number of Roma people living in Elbasan municipality is approximately 2,625 inhabitants adults and children amongst which 1,850 are eligible to vote. According to the last local elections in 2003 the minimum number of votes necessary to elect a member of the municipality council was 650. Based on this data, the Roma community in Elbasan believed they had strong prospects to elect their own representative. Secondly, the Roma community in Elbasan is a cohesive one having lived together for more than 100 years. Most of this population came to Elbasan from Greece since the beginning of the 20th century. Another portion moved to Elbasan from other locations in Albania such as the Berat region. The Roma community in Elbasan are organized in two clans, Karbuxhinj and Cergars, mostly living close to the Stadium area with the rest living in Repishta neighbourhood. 3

6 Thirdly, lessons learned from similar experiences in the last five years prepared the Elbasan Roma community for the 2007 local election. In the 2001 parliamentary elections, Roma representatives ran as candidates on behalf of the Union of Human Rights Party. Even though they were not successful due to limited votes, the experience equipped the Roma leaders with skills on how to organise an electoral campaign. Finally, the Roma in Elbasan are better integrated with the non-roma majority compared with many other Roma communities in Albania. This is reflected in the manner in which they are located within the city, showing no tendencies of segregation. Roma communities are settled within and in the periphery of the city, well integrated with the nonroma majority. Roma representatives do not mention segregation as a practice that characterizes their community or that isolation is a challenge to be addressed. Why an Independent candidate? In the last 16 years Roma community have voted for different parties and non-roma candidates based on promises made during campaigns but the investment of their vote has time and again been misused. The conditions of the Roma people not only did not improve during these years but progressively deteriorated. For instance even though needs such as unemployment, housing, and infrastructure have been articulated to the elected officials, they have not ever been addressed properly. Subsequently many Roma felt unrepresented and cheated by the political parties they helped to bring to power. The community members repeatedly emphasized their discontent with this situation to elected candidates but to date have not been able to negotiate a solution. According to some Roma community representatives, supporting a Roma candidate to run on behalf of a given political party would potentially decrease the support for the candidate by risking division of the Roma vote. Taking into account this reality the Roma community leaders of Elbasan decided to support their own Independent candidate as the only way to fulfil their interests and to avoid potential division. 4

7 Characteristics of an Independent candidate The Roma community representatives decided the main characteristics of any Independent candidate had to include more than three of the following aspects:? Good reputation amongst Roma in Elbasan? Be a successful person in his/her own business/activity? Able to represent and lead the Roma constituency? Able to resist pressure from political parties? Unafraid of challenges and able to serve as a model for the young generation? Not already involved with a political party, or strongly identified with one Amongst potential candidates, the one who best fulfilled these criteria according to the Roma community representatives was Mr. Esat Sula. Esat was a successful businessman with a good reputation among Roma as well as the non-roma majority and Egyptian population. His reputation and work served as a guarantee in the effort to be elected as an Independent candidate for the municipality council of Elbasan. Elbasan Roma candidate Esat Sula, 53 years old, is a well-known Roma businessman in Elbasan. Since 1990 he and his family traded textiles in Albania. He established a sewing factory in 1995 where more than 100 people are currently employed. The employees come from Roma and non-roma communities. 5

8 The Roma community representatives in Elbasan presented their proposal to Esat Sula. They invited him to represent them in the 2007 local elections, ensuring him of their active support during the electoral campaign. Esat accepted the invitation after initial hesitancy. Since he was a successful businessman, being involved in politics was perceived as risky for his business as well as his family. Esat's resistance was overcome, however, at the insistence of the Roma representatives who emphasized the importance and the need of Roma representation by one of their own, not to mention Esat's success as a business leader in Elbasan. In close cooperation with the Roma representatives, Esat selected the members of the working group that would be responsible for the organisation of his campaign. The leader of the working group was elected as Ilmi Ademi, a well-known Roma civil society activist with a good reputation among the Roma community in Elbasan. The working group was composed of Roma, non-roma and Egyptians, and included informal leaders, higher educated individuals, women, and young people. Esat wanted to target non- Roma citizens in Elbasan during the campaign as one strategy to ensure non-roma understanding and support, which was necessary for success in representing minority communities. 6 Esat meeting with members of the working group

9 Pre-campaign activities The working group identified the following steps to be taken before the official start of the electoral campaign: 1. Registration of the Roma Independent candidate with the Local Electoral Commission. 2. Identification and registration of all Roma people eligible to vote who were not registered in the voting list. 3. Identification of the needs of the Roma community in Elbasan and their priorities. Based on the rules of the Local Electoral Commission (LEC) registration of an Independent candidate running for the municipality council of Elbasan could be accomplished through the collection of 300 valid voters' signatures. Members of the working group worked intensively to collect the necessary signatures among Roma and non-roma individuals by going door-to door, conducting small meetings, and by visiting Roma sellers in the market. All signatures were presented to the LEC two days before the official deadline. According to Albanian Electoral Code, specific identification (birth certificate or passport) is required to vote; without the proper paperwork, voting privileges would be denied on the day of the election. Assisted by Roma community members, the working group identified 75 eligible voters who did not have proper identification. To assist these unregistered individuals obtain necessary documentation, members of the working group took photos of the Roma in their homes or wherever they could meet. The same Roma individuals were then accompanied to the municipal registration office where, under the close supervision of either a member of the community or working group, birth certificates were obtained and identification documents were prepared. Several focus groups were conducted among the Roma in Elbasan. The focus groups aimed to confirm the needs of the Roma people and their importance in order of priority. Based on these needs the program of the Independent 7

10 candidate was designed for the electoral campaign. Strategy of the Electoral Campaign The municipal council candidate and the working group developed a detailed strategy for the electoral campaign. This strategy was organized in three parts: 1. Program based on the needs of the Roma community. 2. Training of Roma women and youth on the importance of voting and how to vote. 3. Image and Information Campaign. Needs of the Roma community The program of the electoral campaign was based on the needs identified and prioritized by the working groups. The candidate presented this program as the real instrument of change to improve the Roma reality. The major interventions aimed at improving the life of Roma people in Elbasan consisted of the following: 1. Legalization of Roma informal buildings. One year ago the Albanian Parliament passed a law on the legalization of informal buildings. The Roma candidate committed to facilitate the process for all Roma buildings. He would assist Roma people with the necessary information and legal support to legalize their buildings. 2. Housing. Elbasan Municipality and the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Telecommunications have a plan to address the housing problem in the Elbasan region. The candidate committed his support to exercise his decision making position to have Roma people included in the list of beneficiaries. 3. Economic assistance. According to the Roma candidate all the Roma families which meet the criteria of benefiting from the economic assistance scheme will be facilitated to have access to it. 8

11 4. Kindergartens in Roma communities. Lack of a pre-school education often prevents Roma children from obtaining a proper education in elementary school. Kindergartens that ensure qualitative education for Roma children are needed; the candidate pledged to work with the municipality, Directory of Education and interested donors for the realization of such establishments in Elbasan. 5. Infrastructure. Taking into consideration the infrastructure conditions of Roma communities in Elbasan, the Roma candidate assured support to the extent that his position allowed for the inclusion of Roma neighbourhoods in the infrastructural planning of the Municipality. 6. Improvement of the Roma market. In an effort to promote Roma business, improvements to the current market structure will be discussed with the Elbasan municipality, Roma businessmen and other community members for an matching contributions. Importance of voting With regard to training for Roma women and first-time voting young 2 people, a specialized team from Tirana was called upon to recommend the best training methodologies for sharing information with illiterate and less educated people. The training consisted of information found in the electoral code and why voting was important in having a voice in local government. Additionally, the trainers would demonstrate how the local election ballot was formatted, in particular for illiterate voters. These trainings were planned to be organized intensively during the last weeks leading up to the day of the election. Four training sessions were conducted with at least 50 participants, though the exact number is difficult to assess since many individuals attended more than one training session. Image and information campaign The image and information campaign was developed based not only on political communication principles but also on specific Roma cultural norms. The main parts of the image campaign included: 2 Pedagogical staff from the Faculty of Social Sciences of Tirana 9

12 1. Production of posters 2. Production of leaflets in both Roma and Albanian languages 3. Production of Roma flags 4. Organisation of concerts with Roma music 5. Public candidate meetings with the populace broadcasted by local media 6. Publication of articles and interviews on the main newspapers of the candidate and his program 7. Media coverage of Roma candidate activities Excerpt from an interview given by Esat Sula to the Korrieri newspaper on All Roma people in Elbasan are brothers. I didn't spend any money during my campaign. Even the refreshments at the meetings were paid by Roma people themselves. I have money to cover these expenses, but Roma people refuse to receive anything from me. They are very enthusiastic for this opportunity and they offer their contribution without asking for paybacks. This is a very significant stimulus, the source of my motivation and energy on this campaign. Launching of the electoral campaign The electoral campaign opened at the Sports Building in the center of Elbasan, the same location where the other political parties opened their campaigns. The Sports Building holds significance in demonstrating the strength of the Roma commitment to supporting a Roma candidate not only to the Roma community but also to non-roma individuals. In this introductory meeting more than 600 people participated, Roma and non- Roma. 10

13 Other public meetings were organized based on a detailed schedule to cover all Roma and Egyptians neighbourhoods, and as many non-roma ones as possible. These meeting were scheduled by the working group members on a daily basis. Challenges and solutions during the campaign Campaign meeting According to the working group several problems arose during the electoral campaign, the most notable including: 1. Pressure from the political parties towards the candidate and the working group. The main political parties clearly felt threatened by the Roma candidate. These parties (Democratic and Socialist), aware of the potential of the Roma vote to shift the balance between them for election of Mayor, applied pressure on the Roma candidate and his working group to influence the Roma vote for the Mayor candidates. The Roma candidate, along with his working group, responded in the negative to each of the parties' pressures being sure that this was the right answer to avoid any misinterpretation of his position within the Roma community. According to the Roma municipal council candidate, 11

14 each Roma voter was encouraged to vote for the Mayor candidate they most liked. 2. The smaller political parties saw the Roma Independent candidate as a real threat to their success in the municipality council. In the last local and parliamentary elections they received the Roma vote but as the day of the election approached they saw the increased unlikelihood of retaining the same level of Roma support. In efforts to divide the Roma community in Elbasan, these parties proposed other Roma candidates on their own party list but their efforts were unsuccessful. 3. According to the working group the number of illiterate Roma voters was a considerable one posing a real risk of losing a number of votes. In actuality it was impossible to say with any accuracy how many Roma illiterate there were because many of the Roma also had voting illiteracy, i.e. did not know how to cast a ballot. Combined together, the working group and project team estimate more than half of the Roma fell into these illiterate categories. To prepare the group of Roma voters, the working group prepared 2,500 similar copies of the ballot and distributed them among the Roma neighbourhoods, illustrating the format of the ballot and how to mark the ballot to ensure its validity. Working group members exhaustively went door to door to reach the majority of illiterate voters, a solution to a problem that was compounded by the ballot format not being prepared until just days before the election. This technique was an action that was expected to largely reduce the number of invalid votes. The spirit of the Roma community during the campaign The level of support among Roma people in the promotion of a Roma candidate was increased progressively in the last two weeks of the campaign. Roma voters, day-by-day involved in the campaign process, supported their candidate and perceived this event as a real chance for them to have a voice in local government. The encouragement increased from witnessing the behavior of the Roma 12

15 candidate during the campaign. He promoted substantial solutions to their problems of legalization, housing and pre-school education and avoided any kind of financial substitute for his people. This model of campaigning was quite different compared with other candidates and political parties that tried to manipulate and buy votes. The different campaign style improved the reputation of the Roma candidate and increased the level of cohesiveness among the community. Indeed the story of Esat and his campaigning methods reached other Roma communities across the country that had also put up a Roma candidate through this project, though with one of the primary political parties rather than as an Independent. This echoing effect had the impact to inspire and motivate other Roma communities in Albania to consider similar campaigns for future elections. Additionally the echo was felt by the Elbasan Roma candidate as his closing meeting of the campaign was attended by Roma delegations from Tirana and other locales. The Election Day The working group organised coverage of Roma monitors for the election date in addition to the counting process. Young educated Roma were registered at 20 voting stations as observers to the voting process, especially at those stations where large numbers of Roma people were expected to vote. Roma observer during Election Day 13

16 Throughout the day of the elections, small groups of Roma and Egyptians were divided among communities inviting people to go out and vote. It is important to mention that the turn-out level among Roma increased rapidly after 15:30. The local markets closed at that time and more Roma people were available to vote and not miss out on any business. During the day of the election there were no incidents and the level of participation by Roma was estimated by the Roma observers to be over 80%. The counting process Counting the ballots was a long, time-consuming and stressful process. The votes were counted at the Local Electoral Commission where the Roma observers were also present but as unofficial observers they could only follow the counting process from a distance. According to some of the Roma observers more than 400 Roma votes were considered invalid and others were miscounted or given to other candidates of the smaller political parties. Despite these issues the Roma candidate won with 723 votes. He is now one of 45 members of the municipality council of Elbasan. This achievement is the first time in the political history of the Roma community in Elbasan, and throughout Albania, that a Roma Independent candidate won a position in the city council. 14 Roma voter turnout The number of Roma eligible to vote was 1,850. Approximately 80% (1,480) Roma voters participated in the election. The number of votes taken by the Roma candidate according to Central Electoral Commission was 723 votes or just over 2% of the total Elbasan votes for municipal council. More than 400 votes were considered invalid by the counting commission and others were miscounted. According to Roma observers, the number of the Roma votes incorrectly given to other candidates by the counting commission was more than one hundred.

17 Conclusions The success of the Elbasan initiative vs. other communities in Albania where the same project was implemented is testimony to the commitment to and belief in the Roma candidate that had been identified by Elbasan Roma community leaders. A number of the key successes are outlined below. 1. The analysis of the context of the Elbasan community provided the Roma candidate and his working group familiarity with the municipality environment as well as an understanding of the political situation and processes. Consequently they were able to conduct realistic and detailed planning. 2. The importance of having a strong leader and a role model that the Roma community could be proud of cannot be overstated. As a result the Roma candidate enjoyed support from the community of Roma as well as the non-roma population, including key target groups like women and youth. 3. The Roma community representatives had a clear advocacy strategy to convince the Roma candidate that he was the best person to represent the Roma as a community. They took the initiative to select a person that embodied the positive characteristics of Roma culture and lobbied for his acceptance of the Roma candidacy. 4. The working group consulted with the community by means of a participative community needs assessment to prepare the electoral campaign strategy of the Roma candidate. Thus, his campaign was based on identified real needs. 5. Awareness, motivation and skills were built during the course of the campaign through to the counting of ballots. From the active participation of the working group members to the women and youth they trained on the electoral code and how to cast a ballot, each person involved in the election process was affected on some level. 15

18 Recommendations 1. The political representation model followed during this project was the first one of its kind experienced in Albania. Based on this guide other models could be replicated in the future in all the sites where Roma people and other minorities live. 2. There are three important conditions to be considered before initiating similar programs: 1) Sufficient votes to select two members to the commune or municipal council; 2) Selection of candidates who have certain characteristics agreed upon by a representative committee; and 3) Homogeneous and cohesive communities. 3. To increase the community support, it is important that the community is involved in each stage of the campaign. 4. The political representation model can also be used for the parliamentary elections, particularly if the electoral system changes to one that is proportional or regionally proportional. 5. The role of Roma NGOs was virtually non-existent during the campaign. Despite the fact that considerable Roma NGOs are working in Elbasan, none of them was asked to support the initiative by the candidate or the working group. This fact illustrates the amount of work to be done to support Roma NGOs, particularly Roma community based organisations 3 within smaller communities. Facts sheet 16 Number of Roma people eligible to vote: 1850 Number of Roma people in the working group: 10 Number of people registered as observers: 20 Number of votes taken by the Roma candidate: 723 Number of trainings held with women and youth on the voting process: 4 trainings/50 participants Number of leaflets: 1,000 Number of posters: 500 Number of ballot copies to teach people how to vote: 2,500 Number of articles written in daily Albanian newspapers: 4 Number of TV transmissions (local and national): 7 Number of public meetings: 25 3 It is important to mention that the image of Roma NGOs and their level of support among Roma communities are very low.