Projections/Which are the districts where the diaspora vote could be decisive?

According to data from the Central Election Commission, around 75 thousand voters from the diaspora will vote for the Tirana district; around 50 thousand voters are registered in Fier, 40 thousand in Elbasan and around 39 thousand in Durrës.

Data shows that their vote can strongly influence the distribution of mandates.

'There are 20-21 mandates that are determined by the diaspora. Tirana leads with 4 mandates from the diaspora, Vlora, Durres and Elbasan with two mandates each, while Kukës, Dibra and Gjirokastra cannot determine a mandate from the calculation,' said Antuela Malaj, KRIIK expert.

Precisely because of the great weight this vote carries, the leaders of the main parties launched a tour of meetings with the diaspora several months before the May 11 elections.

'We have seen a large number of representatives of political parties, senior representatives of the Albanian state, ministers, directors, mayors who have gone to the diaspora and helped to register on the platform, this help has not been so naive because it is the beginning of a process of influence,' said Antuela Malaj, KRIIK expert.

'If we look at the registrations at the CEC during the weekend, the requests multiplied because during the weekend political representatives were in the diaspora to assist and help citizens register on the platform,' said Antuela Malaj, KRIIK expert.

Is there a risk that the diaspora will see a distorted reality of Albania and as a result their vote will not correspond to the vote they would have if they were actually living in Albania?

'This is a great paradox. Albanians in the Diaspora have fled during the transition for two reasons, they have been dissatisfied with the political system and with the right or left-wing government and it is surprising that people who have fled the system now have to choose the system and the system's offers again' said Afrim Krasniqi, Dr. Institute of Studies

Many countries have chosen to establish a mixed system regarding the weight of the vote between residents in the homeland and citizens of the diaspora. This is due to the creation of a certain disconnection from the reality of the homeland for the citizen of the diaspora, due to subjectivism or family influences, but also for contributions to society from taxes to other forms.

In Albania, the diaspora vote is given the same weight as the resident vote. It is divided according to each person's registration in the homeland, it is not counted as a single electoral unit.

'The Venice Commission's code of good practices states that it is not a violation if the relevant country makes decisions that restrict the power and right to vote without providing prescriptions for those countries that have a significant number of voters living abroad,' said Kristaq Kume, former head of the CEC. TCH