The number of registered emigrants for the May 11 elections has exceeded 181,000 as of midday Tuesday, nearly doubling expectations for diaspora participation in the process.

With only eight days left until the registration deadline, all political parties have intensified their outreach to the diaspora, resulting in a significant increase in registration rates over the past 48 hours.

Given that the initial budget allocated to the Central Election Commission (CEC) for this process was based on an estimate of 100,000 emigrants, the State Election Commissioner has officially requested additional funds from the Albanian Parliament and the Ministry of Finance. These funds are needed to cover the cost of diaspora voting via postal services and to hire additional staff for the May 11 parliamentary elections.

The total cost for handling diaspora voting via postal services is expected to reach €12.5 million. Out of this amount, €5 million had already been allocated, while an additional €7.5 million is now being requested.

Additionally, the CEC has requested 80 extra staff members to handle diaspora voting, as the number of registration applications is projected to surpass 320,000 by March 4.