Civil servants are prohibited from publicly expressing their political beliefs and preferences, and cannot campaign for an electoral entity or candidate as per a law laid down by the Central Election Commission.
Law no. 152/2013 nd decision 9, 24/12/20 of the Regulatory Committee of the CEC states that civil servants sharing or promoting electoral materials of political entities on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc constitutes a violation of this law.
The Acadamy of Political Studies said they are monitoring the conduct of the administration during the electoral campaign, with support from the CEC, the Embassy of the United Kingdom, the EU and the Council of Europe.
Exit has previously reported that employees in state institutions are required to share propaganda from the political party in power. WhatsApp groups including entire departments are set up and articles, posts, and links are shared by the Director. Everyone is required to share them on their personal social media platforms or face disciplinary measures at the end of the week.
They are also required to like, comment, and attend live stream events of political figures even outside of working hours.
Exit observed this across several sectors including law enforcement, education, health and the Municipality of Tirana. Several employees of the state also said they were forced to attend electoral meetings and events, even if they supported other parties.
One employee told Exit;
“It’s embarrassing having to post them- my friends and family know it isn’t genuine but we have to do it.”
They told Exit that the consequences for not keeping up with the posting schedule is potentially losing their job or not having a contract renewed.
“Every day I come into work and I am scared I will lose my job. They assume I am with the opposition and I know I am treated differently because of this. It is very stressful,” they said.
They also spoke of “snitches” in each department who monitor, eavesdrop, and observe other employees and then report back to party structures.
Another example of “snitches” came to light this week.
A huge database containing the personal information of over 910,000 Albanian voters was leaked. This information had been compiled by the Socialist Party, allegedly from data submitted by individuals to state institutions.
The leak, the biggest in Albanian history included names, date of birth, ID number, father’s name, mobile number, and supposed political affiliations. It also contained the name of a “Patron”.
The Patronage system is one whereby every person in the country has a “patronazhist”. This is a low-ranking party official or even just a party member who is assigned several members of the public to “watch over”.
This means they are tasked with getting close to those they are watching over to get information from them which is then reported back to the party. The information includes their political affiliation and opinions and who they are likely to vote for in the election. Prime Minister Edi Rama has admitted to using this system since 2009.
Authorities have not yet held any politicians or political parties to account and instead questioned the journalists that broke the story and tried to get them to reveal their sources.
