As the day of controversial voting in Albania has continued, more irregularities have come to light.
At 3 pm, the Central Election Commission stated that only 15.5% of the electorate had gone to vote. The Opposition rejected this number and said that the number could be as low as 10%. In Kamza, an Opposition stronghold—only 7.5% of the population had voted.
Despite this, Socialist Party observer, Alket Hyseni claimed an “above average” participation in the elections- apparently “even higher” than the 2017 general elections. The reality is however that the overwhelming majority of the Albanian people boycotted the elections as well as demonstrating a huge decrease in support for the Socialist Party.
In Tirana, screenshots from a group chat consisting of members of the municipal police were leaked, detailing how Mayor Erion Veliaj had ordered them to “take urgent measures to increase participation.” This “order” was passed on to members of the force by Municipal Police Chief, Ermal Kapllanaj. He stated: “Who hasn’t voted should immediately go vote because of the low participation in Tirana. Order of the Mayor”.
The screenshot also stated that “On Monday, the fingers of everyone in the municipality will be checked”. This is due to the fact that when you vote, your fingers are marked meaning that anyone who doesn’t vote will not have a marked finger. Checking the fingers of public servants is a form of illegal voter intimidation and explains why so many people posted photos of their marked fingers under the hashtag #unevotova.
In addition to this, a text message was shared with Exit that was sent to other municipal police officers telling them to leave their posts “guarding” voting centers (often in civilian clothing) and to go and get their friends and families to vote. The text reads:
“Withdraw from the schools and the new task is to stimulate and encourage the people we have around us, family members and friends to exercise their right to vote.”
Many posted pictures of invalidated ballots on Twitter and Facebook. One particularly poignant image served as a painful reminder that these elections are far from free. It reads “THEY FORCED ME”.
Many reports of ballot box stuffing circulated and dozens of civil servants including teachers, doctors, and police officers denounced being pressured into voting- many reported being threatened with losing their jobs, social security, or unemployment benefits if they did not vote. In addition to this, a heavy police presence was observed at voting centers and both uniformed and non-uniformed officers were present.
Filming of the voting booths, family voting, the unlawful and irregular transportation of voting materials, and instances of deceased citizens ‘voting’ were reported and documented. Ora news published footage of voting commissioners tampering with ballot boxes.
Various instances of vote buying were evidenced with video recording- notably in Tirana and Fier.
In Shkodra, a PD stronghold, Opposition Mayor Voltana Ademi stated “we will not allow the creation of a new dictatorship”.
