President Begaj Proclaims Law No. 81/2024, “For Some Additions and Amendments to Law No. 10,019 dated December 29, 2008, ‘The Electoral Code of the Republic of Albania’, as amended”
President of the Republic of Albania, His Excellency Mr. Bajram Begaj, today proclaimed Law No. 81/2024, “For Some Additions and Amendments to Law No. 10,019 dated December 29, 2008, ‘The Electoral Code of the Republic of Albania’, as amended.” This law, which received widespread parliamentary support, is the result of discussions and a cross-party agreement to implement the decisions of the Constitutional Court, which had annulled certain provisions of the Electoral Code.
The law underscores the political and legal values of constitutionalism and rule of law as foundational to a functioning democratic system, values that deserve to be cultivated and expanded in Albanian institutional practice. Among other things, this law establishes a framework for overseas voting, marking a historic development for elections in Albania. President Begaj supports and urges the responsible institutions to prioritize measures and preparations to implement overseas voting in the upcoming parliamentary elections, aiming to transform this process into a success story.
The debate over specific provisions of this law was closely monitored by the President of the Republic. The law was reviewed with this debate in mind. The President notes that criticisms of the preferential voting mechanism stem from a legitimate aim to democratize this mechanism further.
The existence of two alternative forms regulating entry into parliament (placement by list order and by preferential vote) is stipulated in point 3 of Article 64 of the Constitution. This provision has passed the constitutionality test with decision no. 28 of 2021 by the Constitutional Court, which found no violation of equality before the law on this account.
The Constitutional Court considered the disproportionality of the legacy mechanism as outlined in the 2020 law. The new amendments have removed this legacy mechanism and adopted the quantitative division mandated by the Constitution, which ensures “the law governing elections guarantees that no less than two-thirds of the multi-name list is subject to preferential voting and ensures gender representation.” Keeping the ratio at the upper limit of this provision leaves no room to debate the constitutionality of a criterion established by the Constitution itself.
Whether preferential voting should follow this ratio or be more flexible within the margin allowed by the Constitution is a matter of visions and political and legal compromises, on which the President of the Republic does not have jurisdiction and cannot take a stance, as doing so would contravene the principle of separation of powers.