Following protests in several municipalities across Elbasan County against the proposed Administrative-Territorial Reform, local authorities have officially launched the public consultation process.

Opposition to the proposed territorial map first emerged in Prrenjas, where hundreds of residents protested against plans to merge their municipality with Librazhd. Similar demonstrations later took place in Belsh and Cërrik, where residents also voiced their opposition to proposals that would see their municipalities merged into Elbasan.

At the same time, municipalities have begun the official public consultation procedures after receiving the Albanian Parliament’s notification regarding the draft law on the Administrative-Territorial Reform.

One of them is the Municipality of Cërrik, which has officially announced the start of a 60-day public consultation period. According to the municipality, the process began after it received Parliament’s official document No. 3573, dated July 31, 2026, which was registered by the institution on August 3.

The Mayor of Cërrik has called on residents to participate in the consultation process, stressing that it should be based on public information and open debate rather than political confrontation.

“This is not a consultation about the future of a mayor. It is a consultation about the future of our community,” the message to residents states.

According to the municipality, consultation meetings will be held in the coming days in the town of Cërrik and across all of its administrative units, with the dates and venues to be announced later.

Elbasan County currently consists of seven municipalities. Under the proposed Administrative-Territorial Reform, that number would be reduced to four. The proposal envisages the merger of Prrenjas with Librazhd, while the municipalities of Cërrik and Belsh would be incorporated into the Municipality of Elbasan.