Electoral State/SP accused of misusing institutions for election campaign

On April 2, a political advertisement in favor of Prime Minister Edi Rama and the ruling Socialist Party appeared for a few minutes on the official website of the Albanian Parliament.

"Vote 5, from left to right, together for Albania 2030 in the European Union, right in the center of the ballot, PS/Edi Rama," the Assembly's post read, accompanied by a photo of an open palm that would later become the Socialist Party's symbol for the May 11 parliamentary elections.

The propaganda post was deleted from the official website of the Parliament after a few minutes and through an announcement, the highest legislative institution promised without apology that it would not be involved in any way in the parliamentary election campaign.

However, opposition representatives considered the above case a typical example of the use of public institutions in elections and publicly denounced it.

"We consider posting the SP logo and the SP number on the ballot a very serious violation, because it is a misuse of a public institution," said the legal representative of the Democratic Party, Franc Nuri.

"It may have been done unintentionally, but what does this show? That even the simplest employee who did it with his own head has made the state and the party inseparable," he added to BIRN.

MP Enkelejd Alibeaj, part of the “Right for Development” coalition, went further, denouncing this case as a “serious electoral crime” to the Central Election Commission and the Special Prosecutor’s Office. But Alibeaj complained that his denunciation through online platforms had not been taken into consideration.

"There is still no reaction. Dead silence," Alibeaj said.

The involvement of the Albanian Parliament in party propaganda is just one of the cases of misuse of institutions in the parliamentary elections of May 11. From Prime Minister Edi Rama to his cabinet ministers, BIRN identified cases of the blurring of boundaries between official and party positions in the function of the electoral campaign.

In his "Face to Face" communications with citizens from his office as prime minister, Rama keeps the two symbols of his campaign prominently displayed – the statue of an owl with which he mocks his political rival, Sali Berisha, and the five fingers of a hand that correspond to the Socialist Party number on the ballot.

On April 14, “Civil Resistance” – a civil society organization monitoring the electoral campaign – denounced the Minister of Interior, Ervin Hoxha, for using the means of the Republic Guard to campaign for the Socialist Party.

“In flagrant violation, Interior Minister Ervin Hoxha uses the state car and the Guard of the Republic in unit number 1 in Tirana. The use of the car and the escort of the Guard outside working hours, but in the service of the minister as a candidate for deputy of the Socialist Party, with leaflets that have symbols of the Socialist Party such as the number 5, constitutes a criminal offense and is punishable by imprisonment,”

BIRN also monitored the Facebook accounts of the ministers of the "Rama" cabinet for the period March 17 - March 23, 2025, where it turns out that most of their posts are related to the election campaign and not to their government duties.

In seven days of monitoring, all ministers have published a total of 258 propaganda materials on their Facebook pages, compared to 146 activities of a ministerial nature.

It is also noted that ministers promote community meetings in their constituencies, engaging almost full-time in the campaign. On certain days, ministers only advertise activities related to the May 11 elections.

Recent changes to the Electoral Code have increased oversight of state institutions in the pre-election period, obliging the latter to report any public activity to the Central Election Commission up to 3 months before the elections.

Despite the legal restrictions, Rigers Xhemollari from the Civic Resistance says that violations have been numerous.

"Our biggest concern this quarter has been the transformation of the state into an electoral state," said Xhemollari, emphasizing that during this period institutions have increased transactions with individuals, such as in the case of pension bonuses or procurements with their clients.

Franci Nuri, legal representative of the Democratic Party at the Central Election Commission, claims that so far they have filed more than 80 complaints against a dozen institutions, including the minister.

Referring to Rama's party symbols in his office as prime minister, Nuri said: "You cannot treat the office of the state as you please."/ BIRN