Albania to Register Diaspora Voters for First Time Ahead of May Polls

Albanians search for their names on the voters’ list at a polling station in Tirana for the parliamentary elections in April 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/MALTON DIBRA

Albanian citizens living outside the country will be able to register to vote by post in the May 11 general elections from Saturday – the first time they have ever been able to cast ballots without returning to their homeland to do so.

The Central Election Commission, CEC said the registration of citizens living outside Albania will be done through the Electronic Registration Platform on the CEC mobile application or its official website.

“The regulation defines in detail the steps, technical actions and confidentiality protocol that will be followed during the examination of requests for the registration of voters from abroad through the PER platform,” it said.

Albania’s parliament allowed Albanians abroad to vote, along with making other amendments to the electoral code, on July 26, 2024. MPs from both sides approved the change and agreed to allow diaspora voters to cast ballots by post for the next parliamentary elections.

The last census showed that just 2.4 million people out of 4.6 million citizens actually reside in Albania. That helps explain why, in the last local elections, in May 2023, just 38 per cent of the 3.6 million registered voters actually voted.

According to Interior Minister Ervin Hoxha, 3.7 million Albanians have the right to vote in the 2025 general elections.

Prime Minister Edi Rama, from the Socialist Party, recently completed a tour of meetings with Albanians abroad in cities like New York, London, Athens, Thessaloniki and Milan, which observers suggested were intended to boost his electoral support. The opposition has claimed the meetings involved the use state resources for political benefit.

The ruling Socialists have announced another tour with meetings in Italy and Greece this weekend, local media reported.