President Begaj Decrees the Date for the 2025 General Parliamentary Elections in Albania
Today, President of the Republic of Albania, Mr. Bajram Begaj, issued a decree setting the date for the 2025 general parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for May 11, 2025. The President had the option to choose from four Sundays between April 15 and May 15, 2025.
The decision to set the election date for May 11, 2025, is fundamentally due to the need expressed by the Central Election Commission (CEC) to utilize the full available time for preparing the legal and organizational infrastructure, to enable successful and effective voting, particularly for Albanians living abroad.
President Begaj is convinced that the major challenge of these elections is enabling overseas voting and the broad inclusion of expatriate voters in this crucial democratic process. All political forces have publicly committed to facilitating this process and prioritizing this interest in setting the election date. The President fully supports and respects this collective will without reservation.
The Democratic Party and a significant portion of parliamentary parties expressed concerns to the President that the scheduling of the 6th Summit of the European Political Community (EPC) on May 8 and 9, 2025—just two days before the last possible election date—could unduly influence the government’s position and significantly violate the principle of a level playing field required by the Electoral Code for the campaign period.
Without questioning the legality of such an event, since this is within the legal jurisdiction of the CEC, the President agrees that the government hosting such a meeting during the final days of the election campaign, with significant participation from European political leadership, could potentially influence the election date.
Therefore, after making all necessary checks with competent Albanian authorities, the President received assurances that the aforementioned event would take place after the parliamentary elections, a fact also confirmed to the President by international counterparts.
This official confirmation removes the concerns expressed by the Democratic Party and other parliamentary parties regarding the May 11, 2025 date, making it acceptable and favorable to all political stakeholders. For these reasons, the President decided to respect the request of the CEC and set May 11, 2025, as the date for the parliamentary elections in Albania.