General principles

(point “5/1” and a sentence in point 8 added by Law No. 101/2020, dated 23 July 2020)

1. Elections shall be periodical.

2. Elections shall be conducted through free, secret, equal, and direct voting, in accordance with the rules provided for in this Code. Voters shall freely exercise their right to vote.

3. Every Albanian citizen, who has reached the age of 18, including on Election Day, without distinction according to race, ethnicity, gender, language, political conviction, religion, physical ability, or economic status, shall have the right to vote and to be elected, in compliance with the rules provided for in this Code.

4. Each voter shall have the right to only one vote for the election of an electoral subject.

5. Electoral subjects shall be free to present their electoral programmes in any lawful form and manner.

5/1. Electoral subjects shall benefit public and non-public funding to support their campaign, in accordance with the relevant legal provisions. Electoral subjects shall bear the obligation for transparency and disclosure of income and expenditures during elections to the CEC, to persons tasked with auditing or monitoring, and to the public.

6. Electoral commissions envisaged in this Code shall fulfil their functions in compliance with the law and in an impartial and transparent manner.

7. Except as otherwise provided for by law, it shall be prohibited to provide electoral subjects with the opportunity to use different equipment, funds, and materials that are public property, as well as with human resources of the public administration of any level.

8. Institutions of public administration of any level must not impair the conduct of elections with their activity. The State Police shall exercise its duties serving elections in full impartiality towards electoral subjects. Its activity shall be conducted in line with the rules laid down in this law and in the secondary legislation approved by the CEC.