In his weekly monologue, Prime Minister Edi Rama addressed the large number of Albanian citizens living outside the country in emigration. He called upon the emigrants to convince their family members to vote PS:
Talk with everyone here in Albania and secure 10 votes for Albania that we love. Tell them to secure 10 votes for the Socialist Party, speaking with all their acquaintances and relatives in Albania.
Every election cycle features a promise by politicians to make sure that Albanian diaspora are able to exert their right to vote in general elections, and also this time Prime Minister Rama made the same promise:
This is the last time that you won’t vote directly from where you’re living. Because the work to register Albanians outside the country has started.
During the 2013 elections there were 2 parties, allied to the two big coalitions, explicitly campaigning for the emigrants’ right to vote: the Party for Protection of Emigrant Rights (PPER) and the Albanian Emigration Party (PESh). Together they received a little under 5,000 votes.
For the upcoming elections, professor Shenasi Rama had started a new party, The Albanian Bee (BSh), targeting specifically the diaspora. The fledgling party, however, did not register.
