Home > 1.6 Frequency of elections > ALBANIA - Opinion on the Scope of the Power of the President to set the Dates of Elections
 
 
 
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Paragraph 65
 

The right to vote includes the right to a choice between candidates. The absence of the two main opposition parties,32 the DP and the SMI, indeed might affect the right to vote. However, it was not the Albanian State that prevented these parties from competing in the elections, but the parties themselves decided to boycott the elections. Whether this could have justified a postponement of the elections, according to Art. 170 of the Constitution, seems questionable since the constitutional requirements for the taking of emergency measures are clearly and narrowly defined. In any case, the required procedure was not followed (see above).


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32 Representing about half of the electorate at previous elections.