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Vokshi in EPP: Albania needs a caretaker government to guarantee free and fair elections

Politiko 2026-06-10 17:37:36

Vokshi in EPP: Albania needs a caretaker government to guarantee free and fair

Democratic Party MP and Vice President of EPP Women, Albana Vokshi, participated in the two-day meeting of the European People's Party (EPP), dedicated to the European future of the Western Balkans, held in Sarajevo.
The meeting brought together Prime Ministers, Ministers, leaders of EPP sister parties, MEPs and European officials from the region to discuss the European Union enlargement process and the challenges facing the Western Balkan countries.
On the second day of the event, Vokshi participated in the EPP roundtable on the Western Balkans on the topic "United for EU Integration: The EPP's Next Steps", where she presented the concerns of the Albanian opposition regarding the state of democracy and the electoral process in Albania.
In her speech, she emphasized that Albania needs a caretaker government to guarantee free and fair elections. This is a democratic necessity since everything starts with elections.
Referring to the findings of the ODIHR final report on the parliamentary elections, as well as the conclusions of AFET, IBAR and other European institutions, Vokshi stressed that Albania continues to face deeply unequal conditions of political competition due to the party-state system, the misuse of public resources and extensive networks of patronage and the influence of crime.
Vokshi also raised concerns about the weakening of democratic standards, corruption at the highest levels of government and the lack of checks and balances of power. She focused in particular on the case of former Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, who faces 11 official charges for the misuse of around 1.2 billion euros, as well as the political protection that, according to her, has been offered to this corruption by the socialist majority.
She also raised concerns about the impact of the informal economy, money laundering and the penetration of organized crime into the economy and politics, considering this an alarm not only for Albania, but also for the countries of the European Union.
At the same time, Vokshi reconfirmed the full support of the Democratic Party for the accession process of Albania and the Western Balkan countries to the European Union. The Democratic Party has been and remains a staunch supporter of European integration, which is also reflected in its contribution to the adoption of the parliamentary resolution on the European integration process.
Vokshi also supported the proposal of Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković that, while enlargement should remain a merit-based process, it should also be based on a clear calendar with well-defined deadlines.
However, on behalf of the Albanian opposition, she stressed that no integration process can be considered complete and credible as long as countries like Albania do not guarantee free and fair elections.
In conclusion, Vokshi called on sister European parties to increase pressure and take clearer positions on the violation of democratic standards, the undermining of the rule of law, government corruption and the partnership between the government and organized crime in Albania.
She assessed that the demand for free elections, transparency and accountability now goes beyond the political opposition and represents a broad aspiration of Albanian society, especially the younger generation, which has risen in massive protests for a functional democracy and a European future.

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