By Rashela Shehu (DW)
Local elections are set to take place in Albania in six months. The announcement of the election date came shortly after the approval of the territorial reform. Experts: Legal ambiguity, risk of contestation and a test for EU standards.
On Friday, 30 October, in an Albania gripped by a wave of protests, President Bajram Begaj summoned political parties to the Presidency. But instead of a roundtable on the tense situation in the country, the agenda was the setting of the local election date.
Opposition parties collectively refused the invitation, describing the consultations as formal. After the meeting, Begaj decreed 9 May 2027 as the date of the local elections.
Questions over political representation
The 9 May elections will be the first to be held after the new administrative-territorial reform, which has reduced the number of municipalities from 61 to 46. The merger of 15 municipalities changes not only administrative boundaries, but also the way communities will be represented in municipal councils.
For Gerta Meta, an expert on electoral issues and executive director of the Society for Democratic Culture (SDC), the consequences of the territorial reform are not limited to administrative reorganisation.
“The problem is not simply the change in the number of municipalities. It is the fact that changing the territorial map directly affects how political representation is organised and how the right to vote is exercised,” Meta told Deutsche Welle.
Elections are approaching, legal changes are missing
The local elections already have a date, but not a legal framework adapted to the new territorial division. At a press conference, the head of the Central Election Commission, Ilirjan Celibashi, stressed that changes to the Electoral Code should have been approved in parallel with the territorial reform.
“The provisions concerning the way council members are elected, the criteria for determining their number, and the structure of representation of the various territorial units within a local unit need to be revised,” Celibashi said.
The chief commissioner warned that delays in amending the Electoral Code could cause problems in organising the vote, calling for urgent intervention by the Assembly and political parties.
“If these changes go beyond the end of this year, a problem will arise for the CEC not only from a practical standpoint, but legal problems may also emerge. They must urgently commit to addressing the changes to the Electoral Code,” he said.
Legal ambiguities, risk of challenges to election results
The merger of 15 municipalities brings a significant change for their residents. Instead of having separate municipal councils, they will elect representatives to the councils of the municipalities they have been merged into. However, while administrative boundaries have changed, the Electoral Code still does not clearly define the rules of representation in the new municipalities.
“If the distribution of mandates does not take into account the different demographic and territorial dimensions, claims may arise that some communities are under-represented,” said Meta, the electoral issues expert.
The CEC has about six months to prepare the elections in 46 municipalities. The new organisation requires adapting documentation, electoral materials, and human and financial resources.
“If legal and administrative delays produce concrete problems in the registration of candidates, the administration of voting, or the distribution of mandates, electoral subjects may challenge the legality of decisions and results,” Meta said.
However, she clarifies that delays in amending the Electoral Code do not automatically render the electoral process invalid.
Local elections, a test for European standards
In the progress report for Albania, published on 4 November 2026, the European Commission describes the comprehensive electoral reform as urgent, especially on the eve of the 2027 local elections. Recommendations from the OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission that remain unimplemented continue to draw attention.
For Gerta Meta, among the most urgent issues are the depoliticisation of the electoral administration, preventing the use of state resources in campaigns, and transparency of political financing. In local elections, the use of public resources is particularly important, as incumbent mayors may also be candidates.
“Electoral reform should not be reduced to technical changes to the Electoral Code. It must address the problems that undermine equality in competition, the independence of the electoral administration, transparency of political financing and the freedom of the voter,” Meta emphasises.
According to her, failure to implement the recommendations may also affect the assessment of Albania’s progress towards the European Union. “We may have a CEC that manages to organise the process in 46 municipalities, but this does not automatically guarantee equal competition and democratic credibility,” Meta concludes./DW/