Low voter turnout in Himarë by-election

Out of 23,074 registered voters in Himarë, only 37.61% cast their votes in today’s by-election to determine the new mayor in a contest between Socialist Party candidate Vangjel Tavo and opposition coalition candidate Petro Gjikuria. The election proceeded without significant incidents, but controversy arose over the exclusion of voters with expired identification documents.

Context

In the local elections held on May 14, 2023, voter turnout was 34.27% . The opposition coalition’s candidate, Fredi Beleri, won by just 18 votes more than the Socialist Party candidate, Gjergji Goro.

Today’s by-election proceeded without major incidents. However, a debate emerged over the exclusion of voters whose identification documents had expired. Approximately 6,000 of the 23,000 registered voters had expired ID cards or passports. Of these, 200 individuals were turned away at polling stations.

The opposition claims this was a deliberate attempt to prevent their supporters from voting. However, on more than one occasion, the former Minister of Interior had called on Himariot voters whose documents were expired or would expire by August 4, to apply for replacements and benefit from expedited processing procedures.

Asked about the problem, the head of the Central Election Commission, Ilirjan Celibashi, who was present in Himarë this morning to monitor the process, stated that the issue was not the responsibility of his institution but rather of the voters and the political parties who should ensure that their supporters could exercise their voting rights. He noted that a similar issues had occurred during the May 2023 elections, but a general civil registry decision had allowed those voters to participate following a request by the political parties. However, he underlined that no such request was made for today’s by-election, leading to no decision on the matter.

Polling stations across the 36 voting centers closed at 19:00, and the counting process will commence once all ballots are delivered to the four Regional Electoral Commissions. The legal deadline for completing the counting is 22:00 on Monday.