Wildly conflicting claims, little reliable information and the lack of a political center have left Albanians confused after last weekend's constitutional referendum.
The problems have also raised questions about the viability of their nation's fledgling democracy.Even though Sunday's vote came off without unrest - no small feat in unstable Albania - political analysts said the problems partly overshadow the all-but-certain adoption of Albania's first post-communist constitution. Official results have not come in, but the draft was widely believed to have been approved.
Still, political analyst Remzi Lani said figures, statements and even the most mundane facts have been so twisted by politicians and media that most voters didn't know what they were approving.
"We can't know what to think or whom to support," Lani, director of the independent Albanian Media Institute, said. "In this situation, Albania is a land with no hope."
Albanian politics, bitterly divided between the Socialist government, which includes many former communists, and the nationalist Democratic Party, needs a third, moderate representative, he said.
But "one can't emerge in the current climate," he said.
Contradictions surrounding the vote on the constitution - meant to outline civil, human and democratic rights in Albania - left most of the nation of 3.2 million unaware of the draft's contents, Lani said.
Before the referendum, the Democrats of fiery leader Sali Berisha cited nonexistent clauses, saying the draft constitution would give the governing Socialists 50 more years in power. They also said it would bring back collectivization and communism and undermine Islam, the national reli-gion.
The constitution as drafted would allow Albanians to legally change their religion. It also would define property rights and allow the government to expropriate land deemed of national interest.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which monitored the vote and has praised the Western-style constitution as a stepping stone to a stronger democracy, criticized the campaign.
"Extreme polarization, disinformation" and "misleading statements" characterized debate before the vote, the OSCE said, primarily blaming the Democrats.