Thousands without IDs

TIRANA, June 25 – The Interior Ministry gave the data also showing that 256,000 Albanians who do not have passports and have not been issued new identity cards can’t vote in the June 28 elections.
The ministry had said that some 730,000 of Albania’s three million citizens do not have passports, and will be allowed to cast ballots in the upcoming elections only upon obtaining new identity cards. The opposition had increased that figure by more than 200,000.
The opposition has claimed the ID distribution process has been chaotic, while the government says everything has been going according to plan.
The ruling Democratic Party has suggested that the majority of the people who have not applied for new identity cards are migrants who have not returned to Albania for years.
The Interior Ministry reported 1.4 million citizens have already applied for the new identity documents and has also called on all who have applied to go and pick them up by Sunday to use for the vote.
The process of issuing the new identity documents has been problematic and could have a negative impact in the evaluation of the electoral process, seen as key for the country’s EU aspirations and a crucial test of the country’s democratic credentials.
Young and old say they want Albania to join the European Union so they can travel freely to neighboring Greece or Italy without long visa lines.
Whether the election is peaceful, free and democratic will help determine the progress toward international rehabilitation. The world will be deeply disappointed if the vote goes awry.
Nearly every election here since the fall of communism in 1990 has been contested, with losers accusing winners of vote-rigging or worse.
Albania needs to prove it has embraced Western democratic standards and if it doesn’t go well, it will make things very difficult for the tiny Balkan country.
“We will follow very closely how the elections are conducted,” Carl Bildt, Sweden’s foreign minister, told reporters in Brussels on Monday.