The Central Election Commission of Albania, in co-operation with the OSCE Presence organized today a national conference titled “Voting from abroad – the way forward”. The conference was held in the framework of the OSCE project “Support for reform and electoral processes in Albania”, funded by the governments of Switzerland, Sweden and Poland.
The Chargé d’affaires of EU Delegation, Ambassador Luigi Soreca, US Embassy’s Political-Economic Counselor Allison Dyess, Ambassador of Switzerland, Ms. Ruth Huber, members of Parliament, members of the Special Electoral Reform Commission, representatives of the election bodies of the region, representatives of political parties, Albanian diaspora organizations, local and international non-governmental organizations, civil society and international experts participated in the event.
The goal of the conference was to discuss on the steps to be taken by the Albanian institutions to guarantee the right of vote for Albanians living outside the territory of Albania.
The State Election Commissioner Ilirjan Celibashi stated: “The amendment of the Electoral Code is the first and sine qua non step to enable voting from abroad in the general elections for the Assembly of Albania in 2025. Therefore, to the degree that is institutionally possible and allowed to the CEC, we urge the ruling majority and the opposition to agree on the required changes to the Electoral Code regarding voting from abroad. It is important that the rules on the registration of voters from abroad, the method of voting and the counting of votes, the output of the result and the calculation of mandates based on this result are approved as soon as possible, preferably within this year, as the Constitutional Court has decided”. Full speech
“Out-of-country voting is a matter of both principle and practicality. Albania has already addressed the first part of the issue, by regulating in principle the right of its citizens living abroad to vote. What remains a challenge is how to ensure the proper and effective exercise of this right in a practical sense, which has proven to be complex. The time is now to address the specific issues regarding the execution of that political consensus which was achieved in 2020. It is crucial that any decisions – be it on legislative gaps or practical arrangements – arise from a wide-reaching consensus, based on a thorough assessment and comprehensive consultations with all relevant stakeholders, from political actors to civil society and the diaspora community”, Head of the OSCE Presence Ambassador Bruce Berton stated.
The Chairman of the Central Elections Commission of Kosova, Mr. Kreshnik Radoniqi shared the experience of his country regarding voting from abroad, highlighting the model implemented by Kosova on registration of voters from abroad, while three foreign experts introduced the international pracices in each stage of the process.
The participants- representatives of the political parties and civil society discussed the process of registration of voters from abroad as an expression of their will, the models and ways of voting from abroad – calculation of the results and models of representation of voters from out of country.
This conference will be followed by other meetings, focused on other aspects of voting from abroad.
