Albanians to vote with electronic IDs in 2009

10/09/2008

TIRANA, Albania -- Voters will not show birth certificates to cast their ballots next year, instead using electronic ID cards and passports considered to be secure identification documents, authorities announced on Tuesday (September 9th). It was the first decision by Albania's newly formed parliamentary committee on election reform. "We consider that voting with birth certificates has shown failures, which was the case in local elections in 2007," said committee co-chairman Ilir Rusmaili.

Also on Tuesday, the EU called on Albania to enhance dialogue and political understanding in order to complete ongoing reforms in various fields. At a meeting with Albanian officials, European Commission Director for the Western Balkans Pierre Mirel said political understanding is the basis of Albania's path to Europe. (Shekulli - 10/09/08; BBC, Top Channel, Klan, VOA, BalkanWeb, Telegrafi - 09/09/08)