Democracy's First Steps
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| Students engage in the democratic process in their first student election in Albania |
"We want students to follow the rules; keeping quiet in the halls, attend class every day and finish school until the last year. We want to restore the school so that the students are proud to come here," said Xheme Tonuzi, in her campaign speech to her classmates. Xheme, along with 102 classmates, conducted the first student election ever to be held in their small rural school in Kruje, Albania.
The students decided that they wanted to elect the student senate rather than let the school director make the selection based on grades. With the assistance of the National Democratic Institute's (NDI) Civic Forum field coordinators, they developed simple platforms and campaign slogans based on discussions with their classmates. They signed a code of ethics and agreed to a campaign finance limit of zero dollars, and they selected the members for the election commission, who developed election procedures, ballots and official vote tally sheets. On election day the commissioners carefully signed in all voters, and the polling station was open for one hour. 72.5 percent of the students voted; making it a valid majority.
The USAID funded NDI Civic Forum program in Albania has assisted more than 4000 citizens in supporting the understanding and expansion of democratic principals and processes. Through participation in Civic Forum discussion groups, citizens in rural and urban areas work to become more aware and engaged in cooperating with each other by organizing to address common problems for the benefit of their communities. Currently, the Civic Forum has 24 groups of students in four districts across central Albania , bringing together nearly 500 students to discussion groups twice a month.
In the end, Xheme did not win, everyone did. The students, teachers, and parents who took part in the day all expressed satisfaction and pride in sharing this first step towards democracy.
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