The State Election Commissioner, Ilirjan Celibashi, in a statement to the media, provided some data on the diaspora vote.
Celibashi, during his speech, announced that the final number of voters from abroad after technical verifications is 245,935. Meanwhile, the total value of the contract with the distribution operator, DHL, has been calculated at 9.2 million Euros.
The Commissioner also announced that the printing of ballots has begun, which will be done by a Slovenian company for both diaspora votes and domestic votes. As for the ballots, Celibashi announced that they are expected to be ready between April 7 and 8.
"Regarding voting from abroad, we have also chosen the postal service operator. It will be the company DHL Internacional Albania shpk, which will carry out the service of sending ballots to voters and returning them back to the CEC. The cost is paid by the Albanian state from the state budget. The total value of the contract with this operator is 9.2 million Euros, so from the 12.5 million Euros that was the fund made available to the CEC for the cost of this service, we will pay 9.2 million Euros with an average price for a round-trip delivery of 37.52 Euros.
Today, I believe, we are formalizing this relationship between the CEC and this operator in a contract. The process of printing ballots for voting abroad has begun and we believe that from the communication that is producing these ballots, the Slovenian company is producing ballots in Slovenia for both domestic and foreign voting, but we have started with the printing of ballots for abroad. I believe that between the 7th and 8th we will have the ballots for abroad and between the 8th, 9th and 10th we will begin preparing the envelopes and any other documentation that will be sent to voters abroad, hoping that this entire process will be done by April 15th. There is sufficient time according to the contractual provisions that we have with the postal service operator to send the envelopes, to give 3, 4 or more days to voters from abroad to decide and time to return to the CEC ”, declares Commissioner Celibashi.
Meanwhile, Celibasahi announced that a tutorial is also being completed that will help voters from abroad with the voting process.
" We are completing a spot and tutorial on everything an overseas voter needs to know and do, and most likely within two or three days it will be made public through the media. In the meantime, we are building a support system for advising overseas voters."
We have already determined the counting site for the external voting. It will be the sports palace at the Olympic Park in Tirana. It will be accessible and supervised by the media and observers. Monitored with live cameras 24/7. The final number of external voters is 245,935 voters , "said Celibashi.