On Saturday, opposition Democratic Party (PD) has requested the Dibra Prosecution Office to provide them with information on the progress of investigations into the Albanian Electiongate Dossier 184, which relates vote rigging in the 2016 local elections in Dibra.
After three years of investigations since 2016, Serious Crimes Prosecutors in Tirana decided the case did not fall under their competence. In August 2019, they demoted the case to the regional Dibra Prosecution Office, in violation of the laws. Dibra prosecutors then decided to extend the investigation by three months. Now, about five months later, no information has been made public on the progress.
The “Dossier 184” also includes a series of wiretaps published by German newspaper Bild, which appear to show the extent of vote buying activities of the Socialist Party during the early elections in the municipality of Dibra on September 11, 2016. Wiretaps seem to involve not only criminal groups, but also state officials, members of parliament, ministers, and Prime Minister Edi Rama himself.
