Monday, February 22, 2016

The first national course of the Albanian School of Political Studies named "Political organization and electoral systems", took place in Pogradec from 19-21 February 2016. The invited experts shared the best of local and international practices. The course started with a comparative view of electoral systems, the chronology of elections and their related concerns, with a particular focus on the possible changes of electoral code on the upcoming month, provided by the co-chairman of the parliamentary committee on electoral code reform, Mr. Oerd Bylykbashi. The participants had the opportunity to discuss with Mr.Bylykbashi and share their thoughts on another important issue as the the "Decriminalization of Albanian politics."

A critical look at the history of "Internal democracy of political parties", was addressed by Mr. Afrim Krasniqi, not only as a political scientist but also one of the active protagonist of political developments of the past 25 years. The comparison between the internal democracy best practices with the current practice of Albanian political parties, created the practical approach to the topic.

The course continued on the topic of "Political communication and electoral campaigns". Professor John Parrish-Sprowl from Indiana University School of Liberal Arts - USA, addressed the theme based on 39 years of experience and numerous personal researches. The participants had also a short training on "Public speaking", offering to them the opportunity to further develop this very important skill for presentation and their careers. The topics covered by this course were carefully selected and put in a logic order to complement and support each other.