Election criteria, 20 people arrested, 100 others prosecuted

Local police were put in custody because of the investigation, but said designated persons had attempted to buy criminal votes, which was sentenced to fines of up to two years in prison.

Police communications indicate that another 6 citizens were arrested in Elbasan on charges of buying the vote, while similar cases were filed in Korca, Shkodra or Lezha.

State Police General Director Haki Chako said at a news conference Tuesday that 69 criminal acts affecting free elections were recorded throughout the country. Already referred to in the prosecutor, these cases concern electoral crimes of type “active corruption”, “characterisation or violation of participants in the election”, “violation of voting secrecy” or “voting more than once”.

“throughout the entire election campaign, between May 26th and June 25th, 114 persons have been prosecuted. Twenty people have been arrested, 17 are being pursued in a free state, and 17 have been declared at large,” said Chako. He added that the election crimes recorded on the day of the vote amount to 36 percent of the entire volume of election crimes.

“also, during the voting process, police intervention has been required in 190 cases across the country, where police with the decision of relevant commissions have intervened in 72 cases, as other cases have been resolved by commissioners themselves,” added the head of police.

As in previous elections, the voting process during Sunday was accompanied by mutual accusations of vote purchases and voter orientation to support one or the other party. These charges, which have consistently damaged the election process in Albania, also took place in the OSCE-ODIHR foreign monitors' preliminary report.

In addition to trying to combat the retail phenomenon of the vote, Chako also stopped at cases where police have tallied administration officials using the public post for political activity.

Police introduced director General of the Albanian Road Authority and several Kucova municipal officials all representatives of the Socialist Movement for Integration.

Chako also spoke of police involvement in the 2017 elections, where five effective police officers were subjected to disciplinary investigations and a border police officer was arrested. However, the head of the State Police said complaints about three chief commissioners in Puka, Grams and Debar resulted in groundlessness.

After the letter of the Minister of Internal Affairs to three chief commissioners, I stress that following the verifications made by the Directorate of Professional Standards, it turns out that the chiefs of commissioners have carried out the constitutional duty of law, as well as have not been listed in any case in violation of the State Law and Law for State Police,” said the police chief.

About 6 thousand police workers were involved in the process of securing polling stations, KAZS and polling sites. However, the number of police workers engaged in the month-long survival of the election campaign was more than 12,000.