Independent candidate Boiken Abazi has claimed votes in his support were decimated during the counting process of the Albanian general elections.
The Tirana county candidate said his team conducted a random check of ballot papers in 8 polling stations in a village near the capital, only to find out that 90 percent of votes in his support were potentially made invalid or not counted.
Abazi’s team checked the video footage of the counting process, as they received it from the Central Election Commission. The CEC results show that Abazi received 3 votes in these 8 polling stations.
However, his team claims that video footage shows 28 more potential votes for him: 2 valid votes were not counted, 21 votes had an additional mark on the PS, 4 votes with an additional mark on PD, 1 vote had marks on Abazi, PS and PD. The images of all 28 ballot papers in question were posted on his social media.
The day after the election, Abazi’s team had posted video recordings taken in a ballot counting center, allegedly showing members of the counting team writing on ballot boxes. The independent candidate claimed they were making ballot papers invalid by adding additional marks to voter’s choices.
“This proves that there has been manipulation of votes of votes and serious legal violations,” Abazi stated on Saturday.
More than 5 percent of votes were found to be invalid in this election, a notable increase compared to 2013 (1.39%) and 2017 (1.98%) elections.
Read more: More than 83,000 Invalid Votes Raises Questions Over Manipulation
