DURRES, June 16 – Prosecutors in Durres released the preliminary results of their investigation into an unusual increase in residency registration in Albania’s second largest city.
Prosecutors said they had questioned 60 people in the Durres Beach area, where the opposition said new voters had been registered by the incumbent Socialist mayor to increase his chances of winning in a tight race.
The opposition had said about 2,800 people from other parts of Albania had registered as voters in Durres, an unusually high number, which led to the Central Elections Commission’s decision to order prosecutors to start an investigation.
Prosecutors issued 600 summons for the voters and checked documents. They arrived to the conclusion that many had used fake papers to get residency in Durres. Others had signed up false rental agreements.
One notary public has been suspended from practice for aiding in the forgery of such documents, authorities said.
