IDs process on track, says ministry

TIRANA, May 11 – The Ministry of the Interior insists that the process of issuing new identity cards to the population was going according to the pre-planned procedure, something that has been opposed harshly by the opposition.
The Ministry of the Interior said that as of the end of the week some 850,000 citizens had applied for the new ID cards and two-thirds of them had already received them.
But the opposition Socialists claimed that more than two score of the offices were not opened around the country, leaving thousands of voters without a proper place to apply.
The ministry, on its side, reacted saying they had already opened a few offices more than planned.
The opposition has complained that hundreds of thousands of voters who had no passports should get the new IDs free of charge. But they later agreed to a government verdict to ask only for 200 leks (from 1,200 before) and take the rest of the amount in six months. That was achieved following mediation from the international community present in the country.
But it seems they are still not pleased and complain that many Albanian voters will be deprived of the new IDs, thus from voting at the June 28th parliamentary polls.
The government says that some 730,000 voters do not have passports and they are a priority when applying for the new IDs.
While the opposition claims that the number is about 960,000.
Albanian voters should present their passport or new IDs to cast their ballot.