Tonight, on Euronews Albania’s weekly show “Shock” analysts Andi Bushati and Baton Haxhiu discussed the phenomenon of vote-buying and selling, which continues to be a major problem in the country.
Analyst Bushati took as an example the electoral race of Tom Doshi, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
According to Bushati, it is very suspicious that his party was able to receive more votes than Boiken Abazi (Vetëvendosje) and Endri Shabani from “Nisma Thurje”, going even further and casting a shadow of a doubt that money might be the factor.
“I’ll give you an example from Tirana. The problem at hand is that any citizen of Tirana might ask themselves: how is it possible that some young fellows from Nisma Thurja, without dirt on their hands from politics, or fellows from Vetëvendosje that have not made a dime from corruption, receive fewer votes than Tom Doshi”, asked Bushati.
He also added that Tom Doshi can definitely not be considered a civic role model in Tirana, particularly when compared to the other two aforementioned candidates.
“How is it possible? Votes have been bought largely and these elections were determined by the massive vote-buying. If you tell me that Tom Doshi is a role-model citizen, before Endri Shabani and Boiken, then so be it and these elections were fair”, said Bushati sarcastically.
