Albanian Parliament has voted for the second time to pass the amendments to the Electoral Code.
96 deputies voted in favour of the amendments without any changes.
The first vote took place on 5 October and the amendments were then passed to President Ilir Meta. He refused to decree them and returned the law to parliament where he asked for changes to be made. Meta also sought the opinion of the Venice Commission who said they would only be able to give it, at the earliest in December.
Following this, Enlargement Commissioner Varhelyi, EU spokesperson Ana Pinsonero-Hernandez, various individuals and groups of MEPs, called on Prime Minister Edi Rama to wait for the opinion of the Venice Commission before doing the second vote.
Rama said he wold not delay the vote as there is a general election coming. He added he would listen to the opinion of the Venice Commission but only after the elections.
The non-Parliamentary opposition have opposed the changes but since they gave up their mandates in 2019, they were unable to vote against them.
Now the amendments of the Electoral Code are law.
To read more about the changes and what they mean for voters, read here and here.
