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Poll: 25% of Albanians changed their vote due to pressure from the administration

Politiko 2024-12-06 09:44:12

Poll: 25% of Albanians changed their vote due to pressure from the

In Albania, the misuse of state resources for electoral purposes is considered by activists to be a major concern for the country's democracy. A survey of public opinion in the six largest cities found that the vast majority believe that this use of state resources is unfair and influences the election results. A quarter of the citizens surveyed changed their vote or abstained due to pressure from the public administration.

The study by the Civil Resistance Organization revealed a widespread perception of the misuse of state resources for electoral purposes, with an overwhelming majority (84.5%) of participants stating that the use of state resources significantly affects election results and the majority of them (66%) describing this behavior as unfair and abusive.

More than two-thirds of respondents (78%) stated that public officials use state resources for electoral purposes, more than half of them (57%) emphasized the engagement of civil servants in election campaigns, and (50-55%) noted the use of public funds, public facilities and infrastructure for election campaign activities.

The head of the organization Qëndresa Kytetare, Migen Qiraxhi, tells Voice of America that "this study also showed that in Albania the boundaries between party and state have been violated and are increasingly unclear, especially in election campaigns, and that the administration is commonly used in elections to maintain power under the pressure of keeping the job, so monitoring and measures to curb this worrying phenomenon for democracy remain to be strengthened."

The survey was extended to the 6 largest cities; Tirana, Durrës, Vlorë, Shkodër, Fier, Elbasan with over 80 percent of residents aged 18-60 and nearly 17 percent over 60.

More than a third of citizens surveyed for this study (36%) claimed to have been under pressure to support a candidate or party, and even a quarter (25%) of respondents said they changed their vote or abstained from voting due to pressure from public administration.

The survey revealed that nearly 67 percent of citizens have experienced or heard of cases where public employees have been forced to show political support during working hours, from pressure to participate in election campaign activities (49%), threats of losing their jobs (35%), pressure to submit voter lists (33.5%), to pressure to be photographed participating in electoral activities (27%).

According to the survey, nearly a quarter of citizens (31%) stated that they have witnessed the use of state resources for electoral purposes. While the vast majority of them (82%) are in favor of toughening punitive measures to prevent the use of state resources during electoral processes.

The use of state resources and public administration during election campaigns is one of the main and most frequent observations of domestic and foreign observers, while measures to curb it are considered insufficient./ VOA