Problems with the Diaspora Vote/ More Registrations, Fewer Envelopes Arrived

2025-05-07 08:59:00, Politikë CNA

In the May 11 elections, the diaspora votes for the first time, making these elections historic for the country and for all Albanians living and working abroad, who will express their will through voting.

However, on the CEC website dedicated to voters from abroad, it can be seen that the diaspora votes received by the Central Election Commission still remain at low levels compared to the registrations of emigrants.

According to the CEC, the list of voters from abroad is 245,935 people, 224,628 envelopes have been received by voters and 144,783 envelopes have arrived at the CEC.

State Election Commissioner Ilirjan Celibashi, in a statement on Tuesday, listed some of the problems encountered in the diaspora voting process. He said 21,000 ballots have not been distributed, while 11,000 of them risk not being distributed until the last day because voters have inaccuracies in their registered data.

" The company has not yet distributed 21 thousand envelopes. 11 thousand are due to problems with the accuracy of the address, e-mail, contact or phone number, so the voters could not be found and are in their offices. We called on these voters a few days ago to go to the DHL service of the respective country and inquire. The rest are those that DHL has called or notified and have not answered the calls and have until May 8 to go. The company expects the voters to go themselves ," said Celibashi.

The largest number of registered diaspora citizens who have not yet voted continues to be in Greece, where the turnout is 9.6%, while the percentage of registered voters is 27.8%. Specifically, there are 68,380 registered emigrants in Greece, but 23,640 citizens who live and work in the Hellenic state have returned these envelopes.

The Democratic Party has sent a letter to the CEC requesting "the provision of all communications, evidence and documentation with which the postal operator confirms the delivery of the envelope and electoral material to each voter". Meanwhile, the political leader for the diaspora, Jozefina Topalli, said in a media statement that certain persons are illegally manipulating the will of emigrants and that the envelopes are being withdrawn by other persons, while pointing the finger of accusation at the Socialists.

" We have cases like in Italy, where a lady who works at the embassy in Rome goes and collects envelopes and delivers them illegally. Her name is Marjeta Mikeli and this is unbelievable, not that they didn't do it during the registration, but now they have gone through every measure. But if Italy is more limited, but the lady will be taken under investigation, what is happening in Greece is throughout the territory of the Greek state and the concern is extremely great. We have information that they rent cars and take them to Greece to collect votes ," said Topalli.

Prime Minister Edi Rama has called on immigrants in Greece not to miss the opportunity to express their will. Rama denied the opposition's accusations that the vote of immigrants in Greece is being manipulated.

" I beg everyone, especially those who have registered to support me and the Socialist Party, not to leave without voting. The Blue Salamander had thrown some envelopes on the street and claimed that they were seized envelopes, I don't know how. You can take pictures of them on the street and say that the drug gang is doing this to you, but no one eats these ," said Rama.

Meanwhile, Celibashi emphasized that the CEC handles every complaint based on concrete evidence and not on political statements of parties. The CEC has appealed to citizens to report to the PER system (Electronic Platform for the Registration of Voters from Abroad) any problem regarding the receipt of electoral documentation. It is emphasized that only in this way will the CEC receive notification of the problem in question and be able to address it. Meanwhile, the ballot paper can be sent back to the Central Election Commission, calculating the time for it to arrive at this institution, no later than 19:00 on May 11.

It remains to be seen how the process will go, while the last word remains with the sovereign, now not only within the country, but also outside Albanian lands!/ CNA