The conference was also attended by US Ambassador Yuri Kim, Chairman of the OSCE Presence, Ambassador Vincenzo Del Monaco, Deputy Head of the Political Section at EU Delegation to Albania, Jean-Baptiste Le Bras, MPs, representatives of political parties, ambassadors and representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Tirana, etc.

After thanking the CEC and the OSCE for organizing this conference, Nikolla underlined the constitutional, political-demographic, political-cultural premises and the practical benefit of conducting out- of- the country voting.

“Out- of- the country voting needs to be seen in the context of the basic principles of the European electoral practices, which are the road map for building a democratic system of universal, equal, free, secret, direct votes. In constitutional context, electoral legislation must “reconcile” the right to vote and to run in election with the right to free movement abroad. Neither should exclude the other. Government programs to support investment or facilitate the virtual or physical return of migrants should be followed up by measures to enable their participation in political and electoral processes. The economic and fiscal impact of migrants must also be complemented by their political and electoral impact. “Referring to the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Affairs,” which contains the main principles of European electoral systems, legal amendments to the electoral legislation must be made at least one year before the upcoming elections,” she said.
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