The public administration expanded on the eve of the elections, how many people were employed in the first quarter of the year

A few months before the May 11 parliamentary elections, employment in the state expanded. Official data from the Institute of Statistics show that during the first quarter of this year, the number of employees in the public administration increased by 1109 people. Faktoje.al referred to INSTAT figures, where the number of employees in the public sector reached 185,387 people at the end of March. Compared to the same period of 2024, the number of employees in the state has increased by 3630 individuals.

Although employment in the state before elections is legally prohibited, data over the years show that public administration in Albania has increased especially when there have been elections.

The most typical case was in the last parliamentary elections of 2021. INSTAT data show that employment in the state sector expanded within a year with 7,812 employees, or 4.5% more.

"Electoral employment is a tradition followed in Albania, especially in recent years when in three electoral processes the system of patronage has dictated the need for maximum mobilization of human resources," says Afrim Krasniqi, director of the Institute for Political Studies, Faktoje.al.

According to him, this phenomenon is not new, but has taken on more serious dimensions in recent years, as evidenced by the data for 2021.

"Despite being one of the main criticisms in ODHIR and OSCE reports over the years and there have been recommendations for intervention in legislation to prevent such a situation, progress is completely minimal," Krasniqi adds.

He emphasizes that in such cases, "the Prosecutor's Office and SPAK would have to conduct an in-depth investigation into the use of state resources in the electoral campaign", while "The Supreme State Audit Office should investigate on the practices followed, so that such phenomena are not repeated." According to him, this is an issue that "must be addressed with priority, also within the framework of the European integration process."

Migen Qiraxhi from Civic Resistance also emphasizes the importance of this issue Faktoje.al, stating that "not only us as a local actor, but now also OSCE-ODHIR reiterates that in elections the use of state resources is one of the main problems in the race for power."

He underlines that more than material assets, "the most important weight is occupied by human resources, or state servants," adding that "if we have a problem with the use of civil servants in the campaign, increasing their number multiplies the problem and also multiplies the electoral benefits of the ruling party."

According to Qiraxi, this is one of the reasons why "our administration is only growing, so much so that it creates an administration twice as high as European countries." He recalls that "over the last five years, the Civic Resistance has denounced over 100 cases of the use of the administration in the campaign and a good part of them have been found to be used by the state for the campaign."

In line with concerns about the electoral use of public administration, the Chairman of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, during a meeting with the presidency of the DP branch in Brussels, stated that "on May 11, there were no elections, but an electoral farce."

He went on to accuse the government of building "a giant machine" of vote buying through the abuse of executive power, including measures prohibited by law. According to Berisha, one of the most aggressive mechanisms was the massive increase in employment.

"He employed over 10 thousand people in the local and central government during the elections", declared Berisha, among other things.

The statement of the Chairman of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, that during the elections over "10 thousand people were employed in the local and central government", is not currently supported by official data. According to INSTAT, the number of employees in the state sector for the first quarter of the year, on the eve of the parliamentary elections, has increased by only 1109 people compared to the previous quarter. Thus, although the concern about the use of the administration in electoral function remains legitimate, the claim for 10 thousand jobs is incorrect in relation to official sources such as INSTAT./Faktoje.al