TIRANA, January 28/ATA/ Socialist MP Damian Gjiknuri, in his capacity as negotiator with the opposition on changes to the Electoral Code, stated today in a television interview that the Democratic Party representatives have not raised such a request in any dialogue roundtable.
Asked about the statements by the DP leaders that the emigrants must vote with biometric documents of the country where they live, Gjiknuri stated that, “This is an excuse or better to say an alibi for not recognizing the elections”.
“We have agreed that citizens must vote with one of the documents. And Albanian law recognizes this. All parties have accepted this. Even when we were in talks at the CEC, there has been upheld the same approach. It has never been raised as a problem. In fact, we have always thought that this is absurd”, stated Gjiknuri.
From the data made public by the CEC, it comes out that around 160 thousand citizens do not have any Albanian documents.
Gjiknuri stated that their registration is not allowed by the electronic platform.
“If a person has no photo, no data, at least you have nothing to compare it to. And the chance for abuse opens up. And it has to do with the principle: a person who has no connection to the territory of Albania, has never come to get an ID, I don’t know, what kind of voter this is. An Albanian citizen who lives here cannot vote without an ID, then, why does someone who lives abroad should have this privilege?”, said Gjiknuri.
In the draft submitted to the Assembly, it is envisaged that the deadlines for registering the candidates with the CEC will be approached by 10 days, to give emigrants more time to return the ballot paper by mail on time. While the payment for the envelope will be taken over by the state, in both directions. Also, part of the agreement reached is the political composition of the commission for counting the Diaspora vote. /r.e/p.s./
