'The diaspora vote could bring about political rotation', Topalli: Why Albanians abroad will not vote for the Socialist Party

Former Speaker of the Parliament and political leader of the Democratic Party for the Diaspora, Jozefina Topalli, has commented on the importance of the diaspora vote and its potential impact on Albanian politics.

Invited to the show "This Week" on News24, Topalli called this process a planetary challenge, highlighting the fact that half of the Albanian population lives abroad. She emphasized that this process, unknown to Albanian politics, could bring about a major change, reversing the current situation.

"We are facing an unknown because it has not been experimented with before. It is a difficult, planetary challenge, because half of the population is in every corner of the world. If political forces have structures to campaign within the state, we do not have such a structure for the diaspora vote.

Due to the difficult situations that the DP went through in the last 4 years and the changes to the Electoral Code made in recent months, the appointment came a little late while others had started earlier. I am not afraid of the difficulty of the challenge because complaining is not a strategy that honors you in poetry. I have never hidden from challenges and I am not doing so now either. It is a delicate moment in many aspects, not forgetting the impact on world developments.

"People don't like politics but they need to be participants because the impact of political decisions affects every part of their lives," she said.

She added that the diaspora's influence on the final outcome of the May 11 elections could be so powerful that it could even ensure the overthrow of power and political rotation.

"In the meeting I had in Germany, we also had Albanians from Kosovo present. They are ahead of us, they have applied the diaspora vote in two mandates already, but they also have a very strong connection to their country and the political processes that are taking place. Kurti is mostly prime minister thanks to the diaspora vote.

As for Albania, we have an extraordinary electoral bloc across the country that, if they were mobilized to register and then vote, would make extraordinary political turns, as an unused power over the past 3 decades to make the rotation. Very strong attention to the diaspora.

"However, there is a different reality and they have a different mentality. But if they really become aware, they will be a key factor, because they condition the political forces and future governments," she said.

Topalli also listed two reasons why the diaspora will not be expected to vote for the Socialist Party, although he stressed that nothing can be predicted as this is a process that has not happened before, and therefore remains enigmatic until the end.

"It's an equation with many unknowns, but those who have been expelled so much in such a short time, I don't believe they will vote for the current government. Second, it's because they are much freer and more independent than Albanians who are conditioned in the workplace to vote for the current government," she said.

Topalli also spoke at meetings held abroad, where he expressed that he now sees the drama of those who have been forced to leave the country not only in a political aspect, but also in a human one.

"After the appointment that took place in December 2024, which has put me in difficulty because it takes a certain amount of time to stop the infrastructure here and then have contacts abroad. The meetings have been good in New York and Boston. So many Albanians had left the country that I was surprised that I knew more people there than inside the country. In the subsequent meetings in Europe, I focused on Italy because Albanians are mainly concentrated there. The beautiful side of all this is the human side. At this stage of life, more than in the political aspect, I see things in the human aspect. When you hear their stories, you start to reflect on the fate of the millions of Albanians who have left. These are great dramas that our nation has gone through," she said.