The State Election Commissioner approved on Sunday the names of candidates for the local by-elections in 5 municipalities in the country that remained vacant after the resignations of mayors, while Tirana remains in suspense until a decision by the Constitutional Court on the legality of the dismissal of mayor Erion Veliaj, who is in detention on charges of corruption.
In the municipalities of Vlora, Berat, Tepelena, Cerrik and Mat, elections will be held on November 9 and the new mayors will remain in office for almost a year and a half until the next local elections in 2026.
The five municipalities were previously run by the Socialist Party, and three of them remained vacant after mayors Agron Malaj in Mat, Ervin Demo in Berat, and Tërmet Peçi in Tepelena resigned to become members of the Albanian Parliament. The mayor of Vlora, Ermal Dredha, resigned, while the mayor of Cërriku, Andi Salla, was appointed Minister of Agriculture in Rama's cabinet.
Due to tight deadlines for registrations with the CEC, the official campaign is only one week long and begins on November 1, despite the fact that the candidates have already launched their campaigns.
In the race are candidates from the Socialist Party, who mainly come from a local political career and in the local administration of the cities where they are running, while the opposition and the Democratic Party have preferred not to run political names in these elections, supporting independent candidates.
In the Municipality of Vlora, the Socialist Party is running with Brunilda Mersini, a doctor by profession and former director of the Vlora Regional Hospital. To run, Mersini resigned from the mandate of the deputy she won in the May 11 elections.
Opposing her is independent candidate Dionis Sota, an entrepreneur and head of the regional tourism association “Arta.” Sota is supported by the Democratic Party and the Albania Becomes Movement.
The CEC did not register the third candidate, Gjergji Nika, as an independent, as he had not followed the nomination procedure through an Initiative Committee.
In Berat, the Socialists are backing the incumbent mayor, Ervin Ceca, who has also served as mayor of the city council. Opposing him is businessman Pavlo Shkarpa, registered as an independent candidate and supported by the opposition.
In Mat, the SP has entrusted the candidacy to Altin Bonji, a local administration leader and chairman of the Municipal Council. But the Socialists are divided in the short campaign for the municipality, as Suzana Pasha, with a political career in the SP branch as chairman of the women's forum, is also running as an independent.
The Democrats, on the other hand, support lawyer Eduart Brahilika as an independent candidate.
In Cërrik, the Socialists propose Florenc Doka, also with extensive administrative experience at the local and municipal levels, while facing him are two candidates from the opposition, the independent candidate supported by the Democrats, Amarildo Hoxha, a doctor by profession, and Eligert Hima, the candidate of "Shqipëria Bëhet".
In Tepelena, the Socialists are running against the former head of the Republican Guard, Gramoz Sako, while the Democrats are supporting the independent candidate, Gabriel Guma, a 26-year-old architect by profession.
For election monitors, the November 9th elections are not expected to bring any surprises in the leadership of these municipalities.
Rigels Xhemollari, head of the organization “Civic Stability,” told BIRN that “I don’t see them as elections, but as reappointments, since there are very few mandates left in these small municipalities.” According to him, the mayors who will emerge from these elections will also have little in their hands, since the councils are controlled by the majority and “only a budget remains to be approved.”
Xhemollari sees with concern what happens to mayors who resign from their mandate, causing additional costs for citizens.
"For me, transfers to the executive or from municipalities to parliament are worrisome, which generate costs for the electoral administration and consequently for the state budget," said Xhemollari.
