Major Albanian parties agree on amendments to Electoral Code for diaspora voting

Albania’s two major political parties, the Socialists and Democrats, in coordination with the State Election Commissioner, have agreed on amendments to the Electoral Code that aim to ensure that votes from the diaspora are counted within the legally mandated timeframe.

Why is this important: The Electoral Code mandates that candidate lists for parliamentary elections be submitted to the Central Election Commission (CEC) 40 days before the election date. However, international postal service providers have requested more than 40 days to deliver ballot envelopes to voters abroad. To address this, the CEC proposed that political parties submit their candidate lists 60 days prior to the election, allowing sufficient time for ballot printing and distribution to the diaspora.

Context: Additional agreed-upon amendments include provisions allowing two representatives from each major political party, the Socialist Party and the Democratic Party, to join CEC officials at every table where diaspora votes are counted. This measure, requested by the opposition, aims to ensure transparency during the counting process.

Another amendment stipulates that postal fees for both sending and returning ballot envelopes will be covered by the state budget for the May 11 elections.

An additional proposal will allow Albanian diaspora voters to cast their votes even if their Albanian identification documents have expired. According to the CEC, around 800,000 diaspora members are eligible under this provision.

What was said: Socialist Party Electoral Secretary Damian Gjiknuri dismissed as unrealistic a Democratic Party’s proposal to allow diaspora members to vote using biometric identification documents issued by foreign states. Gjiknuri explained that the Electoral Code clearly specifies which documents are valid for registration and voting, and it would be impossible to change the rules mid-process. Furthermore, the CEC’s system is designed to cross-check voter data with Albania’s electronic civil registry, which is incompatible with foreign-issued documents.

Gjiknuri estimates that the number of diaspora voters will not exceed 200,000, based on internal Socialist Party surveys. However, he refrained from speculating on how many of these voters might support the Socialists in their bid for a fourth term.

What’s next: The amendments to the Electoral Code are set to be approved next week and are expected to come into force at the beginning of February.