On May 11, 2025, a new government will be elected in Albania, which is expected to lead the country for the next four years. This year, for the first time, the diaspora will also vote.
Inside and outside Albania, in the elections of May 11, 2025, 3 million 713.761 Albanian citizens have the right to vote, of which 114.642 are voting for the first time. These are the 11th elections in the Republic of Albania, after the advent of democracy. There are 2.046 candidates in the race, for 140 seats in parliament. For the first time, the diaspora is also voting in these elections. This process is carried out by mail. The vote of emigrants will be counted by the Central Election Commission and will be calculated as if the citizen had voted in the district where he resided in Albania.
This process has caused numerous reactions, because there has been dissatisfaction from political parties, which have accused the CEC of irregularities, such as that the envelope arrived without the ballot or that the address was not correct. For the first time, the Central Election Commission has signed a protocol with SPAK and the General Prosecutor’s Office.
The agreement provides for joint measures to prevent, identify and prosecute election-related criminal offences, as well as the establishment of mechanisms for the rapid and efficient exchange of information between the institutions involved. A new electoral system has been adopted for these elections, which includes a combination of closed and open lists. About one third of the candidate list is closed, and the names are fixed by the president, while the other two thirds are open. For the latter this time there will be no threshold. On the ballot paper they are placed in alphabetical order, but after the votes are counted they will be re-ordered and the most voted candidates will come out on top.
