Reports by Greek minority raise doubts about integrity of Himare elections, diplomatic sources say

Greek diplomatic sources on Monday stressed that the complaints made by members of the Greek ethnic minority in Albania “raise serious doubts” concerning the integrity of the repeat municipal elections held in Himare.

“The complaints expressed by members of the Greek ethnic minority in Albania concerning the conditions in which the repeat municipal elections in the Himare municipality were held, especially those concerning the tampering with the population of the electorate and denying the constitutional right to vote to thousands of Himare citizens on the pretext that their ID had expired, raise serious doubts about the unimpeachability of the process,” the sources said.

They noted that democratic values and the European acquis demand that Albanian authorities assess and reply to all reports concerning the integrity of the elections on Sunday.