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Ditari i Opozitës

Vokshi at the OSCE Assembly: I was threatened on election day! How Vora was controlled by organized crime

Politiko 2025-07-01 16:54:20

Vokshi at the OSCE Assembly: I was threatened on election day! How Vora was

Democratic Party MP, Ms. Albana Vokshi, while participating in the proceedings of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which is taking place in Porto, Portugal, testified about the interference of organized crime in the May 11 elections in Albania, describing Vora as the most extreme example of the capture of the electoral process by criminal groups.

Vokshi publicly denounced that criminals convicted of murder and drug trafficking controlled the voting in this municipality, in collaboration with local authorities and with the support of the Minister of Economy.

She said that she had previously reported this group to SPAK and the responsible institutions, but on election day she received no protection. She and her staff, including her minor daughter, were directly threatened.

The MP emphasized that this is just one case out of many others that show the high level of criminalization of elections in the country.

Full speech:

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman,
As President Berisha mentioned in his speech, referring to the OSCE/ODIHR Preliminary Report, in the May 11 elections in Albania there were many legal violations such as: massive misuse of administrative resources, intimidation, vote buying, etc. I wanted to dwell on the level of criminal involvement that in these elections was higher than in any previous election. I
would just like to briefly share with you my personal experience of how criminal groups interfered in the elections. I was a political leader of the Democratic Party in Vora, a small municipality near Tirana, but industrialized and with many interests involved. Vora is completely controlled by a criminal group that nominated and then helped to elect the mayor, 2 years ago. And today they control it completely.
A few days before the elections, I filed an official report with the mechanism (composed of the Special Prosecution, the Central Election Commission, the State Police and the General Prosecutor's Office) that was set up to prevent electoral crimes. I gave this mechanism all the detailed information about the criminal group. I have here the names of the members and leaders of this criminal group, convicted of murder and drug trafficking in Albania, the EU, England, etc.
On election day, in this photo you can see the head of the criminal group, debating with the Secretary General of the Democratic Party, Mr. Noka. For the first time, the criminal group, instead of hiding, came out publicly with live interviews on TV, etc. They were so sure that they would be protected that they came out publicly, which had never happened before. This, for the sole reason that they had the support of the Minister of Economy whom they supported in the elections.
If you look at these photos, they are different members of the criminal group. They stood outside the polling centers, and Inside them. The entire group stayed throughout the election day, in a bar in front of the main polling station, controlling the voting process. The members of the criminal group were issued fake badges to give them access inside the polling stations, to control, intimidate or threaten voters.
The photo shows several polling stations. In front of each of them were 50–60 people from the same criminal group, tasked with controlling and intimidating voters. Every voter had to pass in front of them before entering the polling station.
Never in my life have I been insulted, intimidated or threatened as in these elections, in any polling station. They did this with one goal: to get me to leave, and to make it easier for them to fully control the process. But not only that: I was with my daughter and several girls from my staff. One of the members of the criminal group not only threatened me, but also threatened my daughter. This is madness!
I had filed an official report with SPAK, I had provided detailed information every day so that crime could be prevented. I called and called on election day: SPAK, the Police, but no policeman, no prosecutor came there. I was left alone facing those criminals I had reported.
And if they dare to threaten me, can you imagine what happens to other people, to other voters?
I was not there to fight with weapons, but for a better political alternative. The ruling party candidates chose criminal groups over political alternatives.
The result of the vote in Vora clearly shows the impact of crime: the Minister of Economy in that municipality received over 60% of the total votes, while the other 36 SP candidates received less than 40%.
This is just to show one case of how I was intimidated, threatened in broad daylight, and left alone, without any presence of law enforcement. Such situations have occurred in almost every district.
I hope this helps, at least a little, to create an idea of what happened on election day, May 11, in Albania.