The Commissioner for the Right to Information and Personal Data Protection, Mr. Besnik Dervishi, and the State Election Commissioner, Mr. Ilirjan Celibashi, in the framework of election campaign, inform the citizens of the Republic of Albania that both institutions remain committed to strict monitoring of pre-election campaign and election campaign period. For this reason, they appeal to voters, political parties, organizations, other parties involved in this process to comply with the law on administration and processing of personal data within the framework of election activity.

We consider it our primary duty to guarantee that the fundamental rights of citizens are respected at every step, in compliance with the Electoral Code, Law No. 124/2024 “On the Protection of Personal Data” and European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

1. Every processing of personal data should be based on clear and legal criteria, which are understandable for the citizens.  The citizens should be informed clearly on the manner and the purpose of processing their data.
2. Political parties and relevant organizations should collect and process only those data that are absolutely necessary for the purposes of voter registration.
3. The data collected should be protected by appropriate technical and organizational measures in order to prevent unauthorised access, destruction or misuse.
4. Data collected for registration purposes should not be used for other purposes, such as political propaganda, without obtaining the informed consent of the citizen.
5. Political parties and relevant organizations should be accountable for any breach of data protection principles and be open to supervision by the competent authorities.
6. The implementation of the principles of personal data protection helps to strengthen the integrity of elections and maintain trust in democratic processes.
7. Considering the potential risks of the illegal processing of voters’ personal data, we encourage citizens and electoral entities, in case they identify a violation or breach of personal data, to complain to the Office of the Commissioner for the Right to Information and Personal Data Protection
8. This process consists in initially filling  the complaint form, which is published on the official website of the Commissioner for the Right to Information and Personal Data Protection, https://idp.al/ankohu/and then delivering it via email to: [email protected], official mail,  and physically at the institution’s premises.

For more information, the Commissioner’s Office has drafted and published the manual “On the processing of personal data in the framework of election campaigns”.

This manual guides the electoral entities on how to guarantee the protection of personal data of the voters.

 https://www.idp.al/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Udhezues_Faqosur-4-prill.pdf

Besnik Dervishi                                                                                  

The Commissioner for the Right to Information and Protection of Personal Data

Ilirjan Celibashi

State Election Commission