TIRANA, March 6 /ATA/- By Maela Marini/ The State Election Commissioner, Ilirjan Celibashi, called on political parties on Sunday to refrain from public statements that convey electoral messages because it is the timing of electoral silence.
At a media briefing, Celibashi said that “we have conducted on-site verifications in the polling stations and in general no significant problems are reported.”
Celibashi said that “in 5 polling stations voters were identified by checking out the lists because there were no operators of electronic identification devices.”
“Also, in 15 polling stations, the electronic identification device has been replaced. 75% of polling stations opened at 7:00hrs, while 25% opened from 7:00 hrs to 07:30hrs,” Celibashi said.
He added that “we stay in touch with all CEAZs. We have also conducted on-site verifications and generally no significant problems are reported. There are some problems due to gatherings of unauthorized persons. We have communicated with the respective CEAZs, which have reported that the situation has returned to normal, ” he said.
While appealing to citizens to take part in the voting, Celibashi reminded that the polling stations will be closed at 19:00 hrs.
Regarding the case of declaring by-elections null and void in three polling stations of Shkodra, Celibashi said that “voting process there did not take place for objective reasons. Severe weather made it impossible for the voters to get to the polling station.”
There are about 1,300 voters on the list at the polling stations of Shosh and Pult. It is a total of 3 Polling Stations, 2 in Shosh and 1 in Pult.
“Despite the efforts of the commissioners to show up at the polling stations, this did not happen. This issue will be judged once the process is completed. The Electoral Code stipulates that if the election is declared null and void in one or several polling stations and the number of voters is such that it is greater than the difference between the first and second candidate, then the election is repeated throughout the municipality. This remains to be seen in numerical and substance terms,” said Celibashi, adding that if the repetition of elections is decided, this will happen no later than 4 weeks from the decision declaring them null and void.
Meanwhile, Celibashi stressed that in Vora, the voting process is running smoothly.
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