Part of the race for the May 21st parliamentary elections in Greece, are seven members of the Albanian community.
Two of the candidates, namely Fatos Malaj and Niko Bilika are candidates of the PASOK-KINAL party, one in Athens and the other in Thessaloniki.
Meanwhile, three other candidates, Adiljan Koxhaj, Makrina Koci and Angjelos Jahollari are candidates of SYRIZA in Thessaloniki and Euboea.
Sidorela Kalthi is a candidate of the Communist Party of Greece in Crete and Paty Vardhami is a candidate of MeRA25 in Athens.
Most of the candidates from the Albanian community are talented young people from the second generation of immigrants, educated in Greece and England and have been involved in the Greek political scene, participating in debates in the Greek media.
According to Albanian community representatives, the candidacy of Albanians for the Greek parliamentary elections is considered as a sign of integration and inclusion in the country’s social and political life.
There are 115,815 Albanian citizens that have benefited from Greek citizenship since 2011, when Greece adopted the new law on citizenship. According to preliminary calculations, circa 87 thousand of them are eligible to vote in the May 21st parliamentary elections.
