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Euractiv: Over 10,000 registrations from the diaspora will significantly influence the election outcome

Euractiv: Over 10,000 registrations from the diaspora will significantly

Over the past 48 hours, around 10,000 Albanians living in the diaspora have registered to vote in the upcoming national elections on May 11, the first for the country that could see results impossible to predict, writes Euractiv .

Experts say that with more than 10,000 registrations in just over two days, several hundred thousand could be registered by the time the portal closes. That's enough to significantly influence the election outcome, with polls only surveying voters in the country.

According to Interior Minister Ervin Hoxha, 3.7 million of Albania's 4.6 million citizens will be eligible to vote. However, according to the 2023 census, only 2.4 million live in the country, meaning that over 1 million live in diaspora in countries such as the US, Canada, Germany and the UK.

After a sustained campaign by civil society and diaspora groups, Albanian lawmakers amended the law last year, allowing citizens abroad to vote remotely, a first in Albanian history. Citizens must register through an online portal and prove their residency in another country before being sent an envelope to return with their ballot.

Prime Minister Edi Rama's socialist government is running for a fourth term with challenges from Sali Berisha's center-right Democratic Party and a number of smaller opposition groups, mainly from the center and left.

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