The web portal Lapsi.al gave light today to a scandal that shows how the Socialist Party has created a database that contains confidential data on hundreds of thousands of voters, “exceeding the law.” According to Lapsi, “a data system has been made available in the SP electoral offices, which raises strong doubts about the use of the state database of E-Albania in function of the ruling party,” adding also that “the availability of personal data by the SP may have been done by other state institutions.” The portal has managed to provide a database that contains confidential data on 910 thousand voters of Tirana from 19 to 99 years old, including their telephone numbers, ID card numbers, polling station numbers, place of work, and a description of the political affiliation for each of the citizens in the list.
The document provided by Lapsi.al, is approximately 234 MB. In the document, the political affiliation of each individual is briefly described in a column, through the information given by SP members, who through contacts, phone calls or common acquaintances create a rough idea of the political beliefs of the Albanian citizens. “The patronage system has been used in previous elections, but the difference for the “third term” is that, once upon a time the data for potential voters were collected voluntarily, while in the database used today by the Socialist Party there is our sensitive information, which is being misused for election campaign,” writes Lapsi.
Lapsi.al learned also that the document with the sensitive data was distributed on the computers of the headquarters of the Socialist Party of Tirana, where the data is processed, and that “the same illegal procedure takes place in the headquarters of the branches of the Socialist Party in other regions.”According to the web portal, “the creation and use of this Database for electoral purposes is proof that to win the election, the Renaissance (Rilindja) is not stopping within the bounds of the law and there are no scruples to steal personal data about anyone.” Lapsi.al published some partial data on some well-known names of the Albanian public life, to demonstrate how the database works.
The Democratic Party reacted after the publication of the scandal by saying that “the use of the e-Albania database by Edi Rama and SP officials is a criminal offense. For this DP is preparing a lawsuit that will be submitted to SPAK.” According to the former member of parliament of the DP Enkelejd Alibeaj, “in an unprecedented way, computers and servers have been installed in the Headquarters of the Socialist Party that intercept and use the personal data of the citizens from e-Albania portal.”
Meanwhile, after the accusation made by Lapsi.al and the DP, the National Agency for Information Society (AKSHI) issued a statement, saying that “under no circumstances the data available to the AKSHI have been used, nor can they be technically used by political parties or the government itself for political or electoral purposes,” adding that “e-Albania does not store, administer or process citizens’ data at any time. This is clearly shown in the portal interface as well. The data are kept and administered from the respective databases in the framework of the fulfillment of the legal obligations of their administrative institutions according to the act of creation.”
The Secretary General of the SP Taulant Balla, reacted against the declarations of the DP through a post on his social media channels: “Despairing slanderers! The Socialist Party has its own database created through years of organization and door-to-door communication with people. This is called fieldwork and it is done with direct contacts, not with cars and flags, so wait calmly for April 25,” wrote Balla.
