The Albanian Electoral College, the highest institution to rule on election-related issues, has decided for the ballot paper to show only numbers instead of candidate names.
It followed an appeal by the opposition Democratic Party against the decision by the Commissioner for Complaints for numbers only to appear on the ballot paper.
The KQZ decided on April 1 for the ballot paper to contain the party name and names of all candidates for deputies. This was in accordance with the request of the opposition Democratic Party, which argued that voters should have the right to know who they want to represent them in parliament, not just the party.
The Socialist Party appealed the KQZ decision to the Commissioner for Complaints (KAS), a body where it has a majority, which overturned the KQZ decision. It decided to replace the name of the party with that of the party leader, and names of candidates with numbers, according to the PS request.
The many names appearing on the ballot paper would make the counting difficult, the PS argued, while the opposition accused the latter of trying to keep the names of its candidates away from the public due to their alleged questionable background.
In a last attempt, the PD took the case to the highest panel, which issued its decision on Sunday, ruling against the opposition.
Albanians will vote to elect 140 members of parliament on April 25. Electoral lists are prepared by party leadership. Voters have very limited choice to elect specific candidates ranked low in the list, due to the high number of votes required for them to replace candidates ranked high by party leadership.
