TIRANA, Sept. 20, 2023 – Ilirjan Celibashi, the head of Albania’s Central Election Commission (CEC), says the country’s parliament must provide a solution to the issue of Albanian citizens being able to vote from abroad by December as per the recent decision of Albania’s highest court.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Celibashi said the legislative body had a constitutional obligation to act on the matter.
“It remains the duty of the Parliament that beyond any discussions each of us may have about the electoral system, it is a constitutional obligation that by December of this year, it must provide a solution to the issue of voting from abroad,” the chief commissioner said. “It will have to decide with the right it possesses, both the Parliament and the political parties, to decide on this matter.”
He added election authorities must implement the decision of the Constitutional Court on the matter as soon as possible as “a moral obligation.”
Albania’s Constitutional Court, in a Dec. 9, 2022 ruling, emphasized the constitutional right of all Albanian citizens to vote, irrespective of their place of residence, reigniting a longstanding debate regarding the voting rights of Albanian citizens living abroad.
Currently, members of the diaspora can only vote by physically returning to Albania on election day. With 40 percent of its citizens residing abroad and a consistent trend of emigration, Albania ranks among the top five countries globally in terms of the diaspora’s size relative to the resident population.
Consequently, the issue of Albanians abroad being unable to cast their votes has remained a focal point of political discourse and pledges, despite previous attempts to enable voting from outside Albania falling short of realization.
-Electoral reform a must, Celibashi says-
Commissioner Celibashi also called on political parties to start working on electoral reform, noting the opinion of CEC and other non-political actors should also be heard, and political parties should not have sole authority in the election administration process.
He emphasized the need for a swift and comprehensive electoral reform, highlighting that it’s time for a serious overhaul of the electoral system, not just in terms of translating votes into mandates but also modernizing the system’s administration and management to ensure clarity and transparency.
There are growing calls in Albania to change how parliament is elected and how elections are administered, with many seeing the current system as undemocratic and giving an unfair advantage to incumbent and large parties.
