Four days after the opening of the election campaign, a 38-year-old man was arrested in Lushnja for electoral corruption, after he had offered money to a citizen to vote for a political party in the May 11 elections. So far, this is the only case that has led to an arrest, but the Director of Public Order at the State Police, Agron Çeli, admits to a2cnn that there are other denunciation cases for which work is being done to crack down on any illegality.
"According to the provisions of the Criminal Code, for electoral crimes we are implementing them daily with all structures of the State Police, in cooperation with the structures of SPAK and the district prosecutor's offices. There have been cases, for all the cases that we have received notification, the structures have been notified and every illegality that has been identified in the field has been dealt with," Agron Çeli, director of Public Order, told A2 CNN.
Whoever commits corruption in elections, according to the Criminal Code, risks imprisonment from 1 to 5 years. The same punishment is also if a citizen is caught photographing the vote. Director Çeli says that anyone who goes above the law will be punished.
"Any illegality will be punished. No citizen, if identified, will remain unpunished by the special structures that deal with the investigation of these electoral crimes," said Çeli.
According to the law, every police officer must stay 150 meters away from polling stations on election day. Çeli explains when an officer can intervene inside or outside these centers.
"The latest decision issued by the Central Election Commission has assigned two coordinators. Upon identifying the case, the coordinators will notify the control rooms in the local directorates or the head of the service that is of medium level and immediately the State Police will take measures for immediate intervention in the outdoor areas. While in the indoor areas, another method works, in which the secretary of the voting center notifies the State Police and the State Police immediately goes to intervene in the voting center."
Since February, 6,500 State Police officers from the grassroots level to its highest structures have been trained on how to proceed with electoral crimes and how to guarantee order during the May 11 process. These trainings were conducted in cooperation with the OSCE, SPAK, the General Prosecutor's Office and the Central Election Commission. (A2 Televizion)
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