Election Integrity: Strengthening Prosecutors’ Role in Fraud Investigations - Training for law-enforcement agencies
Together with the Rule of Law Centre at the University of Helsinki and in collaboration with the General Prosecution Office, International IDEA is organizing a training for law enforcement agencies on Election Integrity: Strengthening Prosecutors’ Role in Fraud Investigations on March 20–21, 2025, in Tirana, Albania.
This training will bring together prosecutors and judicial officers from the General Prosecution Office, SPAK, the National Bureau of Investigation and local prosecutors, and experts from the Rule of Law Centre of Finland and International IDEA. Blending both theoretical and practical approaches, the training programme is designed to support judicial police officers and prosecutors who are required to prevent and detect electoral malpractice. The program will focus on legal frameworks, evidence collection, case preparation, and trial procedures related to electoral offenses. Legal experts and practitioners from Finland and other countries, with experience in electoral justice, will deliver interactive workshops and case studies designed to enhance the participant’s skills. It will focus on International IDEA’s work on vote-buying and deterring the influence of organized crime in elections, implementing a “follow the money” approach to the investigation of electoral offences, and on the legal experience provided by the Rule of Law Centre.
As Albania approaches parliamentary elections on 11 May 2025, actors bearing responsibilities for the good conduct of the process are intensifying their preparations and engagement. Such stakeholders, include the Central Election Commission (in charge of organising and managing elections), political parties and candidates (as contestants), and civil society organisations, acting as watchdog. Other actors having a vital importance are law enforcement agencies investigating and deliberating on election-related crimes and offences and playing a key contribution in upholding the integrity of elections and public trust.
The general elections of May 2025 will be held in the background of recent, partial amendments to the Electoral Code, which addressed a few Constitutional Court rulings. However, several ODIHR recommendations remain unaddressed, while law enforcement agencies are stepping up efforts to independently investigate all allegations of electoral violations in a thorough, timely and transparent manner. Following the opening of accession talks with the European Union (EU) and completion of the screening process, Albania is expected to address outstanding ODIHR and Venice Commission recommendations. Challenges to the investigation of electoral crime allegations are related to the peculiarity of the crime, the specific and sometimes short period of time when the crime occur, and their consequences, including hampering the free will of voters, endangering the principles of the secrecy of the vote, or exercising pressure on voters. Performing a thorough investigation, holding perpetrators accountable and bringing them to justice can increase public trust in law enforcement institutions and in the integrity of elections.
Electoral offences are investigated in their majority by the General Prosecution Office, while the Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organised Crime (SPAK) investigates cases of vote-buying, with the latter having brought forward a new strategy and administrative and procedural measures to investigate electoral crime. The reformed judiciary, alongside the work done so far by law-enforcement agencies, has further raised popular expectations on the investigation and prosecution of electoral crimes. Data related to the 2023 local elections reveal that general jurisdiction prosecutions have initiated 25 legal proceedings with a total of 19 defendants, while SPAK has registered 50 legal proceedings and investigated 17 persons related to electoral crimes.
Alleged malpractices brought to the attention of law enforcement agencies and the public by civil society organizations, have led to significant decisions by the former.
