The OSCE Presence in Albania, in close partnership with the Albanian State Police and with the support of the Central Election Commission and the General Prosecutor's Office, started today the training of police officers who will be engaged with elections duties. The training courses, which will run until mid-April, address the role of the police in the electoral processes and comes ahead of the 14 May 2023 local elections.
Opening the training course series, Head of Presence Ambassador Guido De Sanctis said: "As the new Head of the OSCE Presence, I am delighted to add to add an impetus to the continued support, which the OSCE Presence is offering to Albanian institutions to organize and administer elections in line with internationally recognized practices and reflecting the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations. This training on electoral administration is something that we offer to you each electoral year as part of our institutional capacity building support. I encourage you to make good use of it and apply in practice what you will learn and share here today".
General Director of the Albanian State Police Muhamet Rrumbullaku said: "I thank the Ambassador for the continuous support of the OSCE Presence in Albania given to the Police in years, which is clearly materialized today through this training. I also thank the Central Election Commission and the General Prosecutor's Office for their contribution in this training, and want to assure the citizens, political parties, as well as our international partners that the police are focused on the correct implementation of the law and the law only."
State Election Commissioner Ilirjan Celibashi and General Prosecutor Olsian Çela also addressed the audience highlighting the role and importance of maintaining standards in creating a secure environment for citizens to freely cast their vote.
About 125 high- and mid-level police officers, including the deputy general director, directors of departments, regional police, and border police directors, as well as chief of commissariats and deputy regional directors will undergo training from 6 to 8 March. The training will then target about 170 trainers from 13 until 20 March, who will in turn start the cascade training for about 6,000 police officers. In addition, the Presence plans to produce some information leaflets to be distributed in some border crossing points for emigrant voters who will return to vote in Albania.
The OSCE Presence has organized election-related training for the Albanian State Police before each local and general election since 2005, while ensuring an increased ownership of the training activities by the State Police.
