The State Election Commissioner, Mr. Ilirjan Celibashi reported in a press conference today about the preparations of the Central Election Commission for the election process ahead of local government elections of May 14, 2023.

The data reported by the Commissioner:

Budget

The cost of the upcoming elections, based on the requests of the CEC to the Albanian Government, through the Parliament of Albania, is 5.3 billion ALL, out of which:

1. Electronic Identification of Voters (PEI), 603 million ALL
2. Electronic Voting and Counting Project (PEVN) in 6 municipalities, 3 billion ALL
3. Monitoring cameras in voting centers, 150 million ALL;
4. Monitoring and recording cameras in Ballot Counting Centers, 124 million ALL;
5. Voter education and information project, 202 million ALL;
6. The cost for the payments of second and third level commissioners ALL 210 million

The Central Election Commission will hire around 352 part-time employees, who will be engaged in various aspects of the preparation and administration of the election process.

In addition, the CEC will hire operators for the project of Voters’ Electronic Identification Device (PEI) and operators of the Electronic Voting and Counting project (PEVN).

 Work plan

The CEC has identified and has been working on draft acts that should be approved for May 14, 2023 elections.

There are 122 acts that will be approved, out of  which:

1. 85 by  the State Election Commissioner;
2. 37 by the Regulatory Commission.

A working plan has been drafted which consists in 107 stages of the election process and milestones in elections, from which derive 713 concrete tasks and responsibilities for the administration of the CEC. The tracking of these phases and specific tasks will be done through a system which is built by the CEC specifically for this purpose.

Projects/ Modules  

 The CEC has prepared around  13 projects for the digitalisation of various aspects of the election process.  

Digitalization process: 

1. New CEC application; 
2. The module on financing of political parties/subjects
3. The module of registration of electoral subjects  
4. The module on accreditation of observers  
5. The system of electronic management of documents and electronic acts (e-acts) 
6. Module of recruitment of temporary staff
7. Information managaement system for voting centers and electoral objects  
8. Tracking of election complaints and reports
9. E- election administration and line of support for second and third tier election commissions.
10. Module of election information (e-archive) 
11. Physical IT infrastructure of the CEC 

Other projects:

1. Education and information of the voters  
2. Upgrading logistic capacities of the CEC (Setting up, and the system of warehouse management)  
3. The program of continuous training of the election administration and e-learning module

Deadline

Some of the election deadlines that are of interest to the subjects:

1. January 13, 2023 – the start of the deadline for reporting of public institutions regarding the activities of a public nature that they plan to organise until Election Day (ED);
2. March 6, 2023 – the deadline for submitting requests for the registration of political parties ends;
3. March 15, 2023 – the deadline for submitting requests for registration of coalitions ends – (no later than 60 days before the ED);
4. March 27, 2023 – the deadline for the submission of candidates for mayor and multi-name lists of candidates for councilor ends – (not later than 50 days before ED, postponed to March 27 because March 25th falls on Saturday/Sunday);
5. April 14, 2023 – the election campaign begins; (30 days before ED);
6. May 8, 2023 – the deadline for the publication of the polls ends – (the last 5 days before the date of the elections, the results of the election polls cannot be published);
7. May 13, 2023 – the election campaign ends and the election silence begins.

Some of the election deadlines of interest to observers/media:

1. May 2, 2023 – the deadline for submitting requests for local observers;
2. May 11, 2023 – deadline for submission of requests for international observers; (no later than 72 hours before ED).

Some of the election deadlines of interest to voters:

1. November 23, 2022 – the preliminary list of voters is announced (30 days after the decree)
2. March 15, 2023 – the deadline for requesting changes to the preliminary list of voters ends (60 days before ED);
3. April 9, 2023 – the Final List of Voters is announced (35 days before ED).

The CEC has started its work in cooperation with the General Directorate of Civil Status and the Ministry of the Interior within the framework of the preparation of voter lists.

We are communicating with the heads of local government units and they have been requested to provide all the information related to the location of the voting centers and their condition, with detailed information on all the elements that make the voting centers easy to accessible to all categories of voters. The CEC has sent an electronic form, which enables the reporting  and checking the required information.

Administration of the process

The process of submission of documentation and registration of multi-member lists of candidates for mayor and municipal councils will be administered by the Commissions of Electoral Administration Zones for the 50 municipalities that have 1 ZAZ.  In case of 11 municipalities that have more than 1 CEAZ, the process will be administered by the CEC.