After 3 hours of deliberations, 106 MPs voted in favor of the Constitutional amendments which will switch the electoral system to an open-list system and the way how pre-electoral elections.

During Thursday’s session, 106 MPs voted in favor and 10 opposed the amendments.

Article 64 and 68 are to submit the following changes:

Article 64:

The Assembly consists of 140 members of parliament elected according to a system of proportional elections with regional competition and national threshold.

Electoral subjects that reach the national threshold are entitled to a mandate.

Voters enjoy the right to vote in favor of a multi-name list of candidates. The criteria and rules for the implementation of the electoral system, for the designation of constituencies, the national threshold, the number of mandates for each constituency, the distribution of mandates and the extent of the preferred voting are defined by electoral laws. Electoral laws guarantee that no less than 2/3 of the multiple name list must be a subject to preferred voting and that gender representation must be ensured.

Paragraph 1 of Article 68

Candidates for Member of Parliament are represented at the constituency level by political parties or voters. A candidate can only apply for one of the proposing subjects, according to this point. The rules for the registration of candidates are defined by electoral laws.

Tashmë mbetet për t’u përcaktuar pragu kombëtar, i cili nga deputetët e opozitës parlamentare është kërkuar të bëhet në 2 për qind, nga 3 që ka qenë më parë.

The national threshold remains to be determined, the members of the parliamentary opposition have demanded for 2% threshold, compared to the previous 3%.

Socialist MP Balla: Constitutional amendments allow both coalitions and 100% open-lists

Democrat MP Murrizi on the open-list system: Time to depoliticize electoral administration

Albanian MP Rudina Hajdari: Open electoral lists will be a historical change