Celibashi: The political party that participated in the previous elections receives funds

11:56 15/02/2023

The State Election Commissioner held a public session today.

In a communication with journalists, the head of the CEC, Ilirjan Celibashi, spoke about the funding of political parties for the local elections of May 14, 2023.

Celibashi did not prefer to say which party will receive funds and which will not, as he added that the funds will be received by the parties that participated in the previous elections.

Likewise, Celibashi stated that the fund is determined by the Assembly, for which he emphasized that it cannot be less than 130 million.

Ilirjan Celibashi: Regarding whether the Democratic Party will benefit from funds, in fact it is a decision that must be taken and to respect the institution, I am not reading it to you as a decision, but I am reading you the rule and you draw the conclusion. The law has defined in Article 180 of the Electoral Code, as a transitional provision, the principle is that the party that participated in the previous elections receives funds. The previous elections for the local government bodies were the elections of 2019. We know that the Democratic Party did not participate in those elections, but Article 180 of the Electoral Code as a transitional provision, has determined that the reference will be made to the elections as the case may be. Respectively, of 2015 and 2017. There is an exception that those parties that did not participate in these elections, the electoral process of 2019 will be taken into consideration. Practically, anyone who participated in 2015, 2017, 2019 qualifies to receive campaign funds. We do not ask for funding because it is the Assembly that decides how much money will be made available to political parties for their election campaign. This fund cannot be less than 130 million.

During his speech, Celibashi was asked by journalists about the registration of DP in the local elections. He said that there is only one PD and welcomed the decision of the Court of Appeal to resolve the issue within this political party in the March 3 court session.

Ilirjan Celibashi: There is only one DP that if it meets the conditions to be registered, it will be registered. When the request is submitted, we will evaluate the documentation for the registration request and we will evaluate the qualities of the persons who submit it. On the 3rd, the court will decide in relation to the conflict which is the leading body of the DP and I estimate that it is a positive engagement of the court before the electoral process begins, the participation in the election of a political party. We are talking about the main opposition party./broread