2025 Elections/ Citizens in high readiness to vote

2025-01-14 19:35:00, Politikë CNA

In a survey by the International Republican Institute (IRI), citizens express a high willingness to vote in connection with the elections.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents (62%) say that the choices or offers in Albanian politics are very limited and that new political forces should offer other alternatives in the upcoming elections.

This opinion prevails across all age groups. This new response now comes from respondents, over 90 percent of whom claimed to have voted for one of the two or three largest parties in the past elections.

Currently, a third of respondents from all age groups express approval for the new parties that have recently been established. The survey also revealed that, in addition to the four oldest parties (SP, PD, PSD, PL), citizens also express confidence in four new parties (Shqipëria Bëhet, Partia Mundësia, Lëvizja Bashkë and Nisma), writes VOA.

IRI Director Fluharty emphasizes that political parties are at the bottom of the citizen trust chart and this is a message to them.

“The poll,” says Mr. Fluharty, “doesn’t see elections as a head-to-head horse race; who wins them is not as important as the conversation about who political parties belong to: Do ??they belong to a group of people who have the same views, or do they believe in an individual. There is a gap in the fundamental understanding of citizens about which party they belong to, what they represent, what ideology and programs they have, because when people stay connected to particular individuals, there is always a question about the motive for this,” added the IRI director for Albania.

In the IRI survey, only a minority (16%) said they are unlikely to vote in May, because according to them, votes and elections do not matter, that no candidate or party inspires or represents them.

The majority of respondents (58%) believe that the upcoming elections will be free, compared to 40 percent who think the opposite.

The vast majority of respondents who are expected to vote for the SP (90%) think that the May elections will be free, while three-quarters of those who are expected to vote for the DP say that the elections will not be free.

The majority of respondents (58%) believe that the CEC is capable of organizing and supervising elections, but the remainder (41%) have little or no trust in the CEC.

The survey revealed a growing concern among citizens about possible violence in the elections, almost double the level of a year ago. A year ago, 27 percent of citizens expressed this concern, while today they are almost double (45%). The vast majority of respondents who raise this concern about possible violence in the elections belong to the part that is thought to vote for the Democratic Party of Albania./ CNA