The State Election Commissioner, Mr. Ilirjan Celibashi attended the round table “Out of the country Voting: Constitutional Principles, European Practices and Challenges in the Framework of European Integration Process” organized by the Institute of Political Studies with the support of the Embassy of the Netherlands, funded by the European Union (C1-EU-NPA).

Representatives from the Ministry of the Interior, the Parliament of Albania, Diaspora, diplomatic corps in Albania, local and international non-governmental organizations, civil society, the media, and experts were also present in the event.

The goal of the round table was to bring together in a debate, the Parliament of Albania, the government, main political parties, the CEC, civil society and international partners, to discuss the current challenges of out of the country voting in the context of the Constitutional Court Decision and the negotiation process of Albania’s membership in the European Union.

The issue of out of the country voting takes on importance in the context of the electoral reform and at a time when the Constitutional Court issued a decision and mandated the Parliament to fill the legal vacuum within one year (decision 38/2022).

Commissioner Ilirjan Celibashi, in his speech, stated that “If the legal gap found by the Constitutional Court is not addressed in 2025 elections, there will be no out of the country voting.

He underlined that “If the Parliament has the political will to fill this legal vacuum, it should do it as soon as possible”.

Three experts shared their professional input on experiences of former communist countries, which are now EU members, on the solution to this problem, the standards applied in the EU, the impact and current context of the Constitutional Court Decision.