Friday, May 22, 2015

Several prominent personalities as the minister of Education and Sport, Ms. Lindita Nikolla; the chairwoman of CEC, Ms. Lefterije Luzi; the head of EU Delegation in Tirana, Ms. Romana Vlahutin; the Dutch ambassador, Ms. Dewi Van De Weerd and the representant of Swiss Embassy, Ms. Debora Kern, attended today the election simulation exercise in “Arben Broci” high school in Tirana. The event was part of the Council of Europe programme “Awareness Raising Campaign for First Time Voters”, implemented by the Academy of Political Studies.

The personalities addressed awareness messages to the students and to the public in general through the Media, stressing the importance of participating and voting process. The personalities took also part during the voting simulation exercise organized on this high school. The exercise was organize in the format of a mock election, improvising polling stations, including ballot papers, commissioners, observers, ballot boxes, journalists, guards, voter’s lists, etc. The aim of this exercise was to give the students an experience of a properly carried out voting process; that is, as described in the electoral code. Therefore, all the elements of a voting process were identified and put in place during the simulation.
Moreover, the students got an understanding on how to identify and avoid malpractices during the voting process, such as, for instance, the family voting. The programme was implemented in 385 high schools in all the country reaching over 35.000 mature students, as first time voters.