Turnout in the May 2023 Election by Municipalities, Turnout 2005 – 2023

Open Data Albania is reflecting the results of turnout by municipalities in the country, in the 2023 local elections, comparing them with the last elections that correspond with the parliamentary ones, as well as with the last normal local elections that correspond to the year 2015. Local elections were also held in 2019, but due to the boycott of the elections by the opposition, the turnout of citizens in the voting was the lowest historically.

In the local elections of May 14th, 3,650,658 voters were registered in the list. Only 38.23% or 1 395 627 individuals participated in the voting. This is the lowest turnout if we exclude 2019 as an atypical process due to the boycott.

In the processes taken under analysis, only two of them exceed the level of 50%, i.e. half. Specifically, in the 2013 rotating elections, 53.47% of the voters voted in the process, while in the 2009 assembly elections, the turnout was 50.52%. In other processes the result is below 50%. An out-of-context case is the result of turnout in the 2019 local elections. In this process, the opposition parties did not nominate any candidates and called on the respective electorate to boycott the process by not participating. In these elections, only 22.26% of voters on the list voted, although the process was also accompanied by a high number of irregular or invalid votes.

Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Turnout by municipalities for the 2023 elections. The highest turnout is recorded in two municipalities won by Together We Win, namely that of Fushë Arrëz with a turnout rate of 52.9% and that of Puka with 52.5%. More than half of the voters on the list also voted in the Municipality of Klos 52.2% and that of Kukës 51.8%.

In all other municipalities, less than half of the adults with the right to vote participated in the voting. The five municipalities with the lowest turnout rate are: Finiqi 19.7%, Dropulli 23.3%, Vlora 24.7%, Fieri 31.7%, and Kuçova 31.7%.

Other large municipalities also have lower turnout than the national average, such as Saranda 32.1%, Korça 32.9%, Durres 33.8%, Shkodra 34.6%, Berat 34.9%, Kavaja 34.9%, Lushnja 35.5%, Pogradeci 37.5%. , and Elbasan 38.2%.

Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Table: Participation in the May 14, 2023 Elections, by municipalities

Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

The comparison of turnout by municipalities in the elections of May 14 with those of April 25, 2021, shows that the percentage of turnout has increased in 9 municipalities in the country.

Accordingly, in the municipality of Pustec, we have an increase in the turnout rate by 12.5 percentage points pp, from 36.8% to 49.3%; Himara, an increase of 8.5 percentage points from 25.8% to 34.3%; Dropull, increase by 8.4 pp from 14.8% to 23.3%; Këlcyrë growth 6.4 pp; Finiq 5.9 pp; Fushë Arrëz 3.8 pp; Libohova 3.4 pp; Konispol 2.2 pp; Kukës 1.6 pp.

The municipality with the highest decrease in turnout is that of Tirana, namely from 55.8% in 2021 to 43.2% in 2023, i.e. a decrease of 12.6 percentage points. The municipality of Vlora follows with a decrease of 12.4 percentage points from 37.1% to 24.7%. Again, the third largest decrease is the large municipality of Fier with 12 percentage points from 43.7% to 31.7%.

With a decrease bigger than 10 percentage points in the turnout rate in 2023 compared to 2021, the municipalities of Lushnja 11.5 pp, Vora 11.2 pp, Elbasani 10.4 pp, and Pogradec 10.4 pp also result.

Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

Table: Change in participation rate, Local Elections 2023 vs Parliamentary Elections 2021, by municipalities

Source: CEC
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania

You can access data, results or analysis related to electoral processes by clicking on the Open Data Albania website, Electoral Processes category.

Download excel: Turnout in the May 2023 Election by Municipalities, Turnout 2005 – 2023
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Contributed by: Ilir Brasha
Translated by: Etleva Pushi