The EU, German and French ambassadors were in Elbasan this Monday, where they held meetings with the leaders of political parties on the occasion of the April 25th elections. While there, the ambassadors expressed their concern regarding vote-buying and selling, saying that it is a criminal act. The diplomats also appealed for free and fair elections.
Ambassadors Soreca, Zingraf and Barsak held meetings with political representatives of SP, DP and Nisma ‘Thurje’. The Socialist Movement for Integration wasn’t present in the meeting because of the electoral agenda of the leader, Kryemadhi. After the meeting, the diplomat of the European Union declared that the electoral campaign should be dominated by the programs of each political party and not by personal attacks.
“We wanted to see a campaign concentrated on programs, on Albanian citizens and their needs and not concentrated on attacks and intimidations. We repeated this message to all the leaders that we met with today and naturally we also heard their perspectives and concerns. What is very important and fundamental for us is for these elections to be free, honest and transparent and for all parties and leaders to accept the results,” said Luigi Soreca, EU ambassador to Albania.
Soreca also spoke about the concern of vote-buying and selling and said that it is a criminal offense.
“We also heard concerns about vote-buying. Don’t forget, vote-buying is a criminal offense as stated in article 328 of the Criminal Code. We also heard about vote-selling, and don’t forget this too is a criminal offense that is also stated in article 328 in the Criminal Code,” said Soreca.
