The Democrats' stance regarding the changes requested by the CEC in the Electoral Code has raised many questions about the voting of Albanians abroad.
The amendments that gave the CEC more time to send the ballot, accompanied by the full coverage of postal expenses by the state, are no longer a certainty, as the Democrats have set the condition that for a vote in favor, their request that Albanians living abroad but who do not have any kind of Albanian identification document be accepted must also be accepted.
"Our request is a condition for consensus on the Electoral Code," said Sali Berisha.
Faced with this situation, the question arises as to what will happen? With or without the approval of the amendments, the CEC has foreseen procedures for voting from abroad, all of which are related to deadlines, the first of which are those related to the registration of parties, coalitions and candidates.
“Each political party must submit a request to register as an electoral subject with the CEC no later than 70 days before the election date. Two or more political parties registered as electoral subjects with the CEC, according to Article 64 of this Code, may register with the CEC as an electoral coalition at the national level no later than 60 days before the election date. The political party or electoral coalition that is registered with the CEC shall submit for each electoral zone, no later than 50 days before the election date, a multi-name list with a fixed order of candidates”, Electoral Code.
This step is important because without the names of the candidates in the race, the CEC cannot print the ballot and the time to produce the ballot takes up to 2 weeks. In other words, from the moment of filing, approval and production, around April 14, the CEC will have the stock of ballots available to send abroad, and this is where the calculation of postal deadlines begins, which the institution itself has consulted with the operators.
"Information of the CEC after the meeting with postal operators: All operators, including the public one, estimate that it is impossible to send ballots abroad and return them to Albania in a time shorter than 30 - 45 days. The practices of other countries where some of these operators are engaged in voting from abroad confirm the deadline for sending and returning ballots from abroad, in a period of time not less than 45 days", Electoral Code.
The CEC does not have 45 days for normal mail, so express mail is expected to be introduced for both sending and translating the ballot in Albania. But this solution has financial costs and without the changes to the Code, half of the cost will have to be paid by Albanians living abroad.
"The completed and sealed ballot papers are sent to the official address of the CEC via postal service at the voter's expense. The CEC initially makes an effort to select international postal service providers abroad, who have experience and a good reputation in express mail service, and their selection is carried out through the shortest possible procedures that public procurement legislation allows", Electoral Code.
But political parties may also lose out from this process, as their desire to administer the emigrant vote themselves during the counting process becomes unrealizable since current provisions have left this competence to the CEC.
"The process of counting them begins at the same moment that the counting of the first ballot box of the respective electoral zone begins, and their evaluation is carried out by the CEC administration and tabulated in the results table of the respective electoral zone", Electoral Code.
The Assembly's work calendar has foreseen February 13 as the date when the amendments to the Electoral Code will be reviewed, and the time to find consensus, not necessarily with the DP, seems sufficient to make the number 84. (A2 Televizion)
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