CEC chairwoman indicted for power abuse on electronic voting tender

12/08/2016 00:00

The High State Control has indicted the Chairwoman of the Central Electoral Commission Lefterije Luzi, accusing her of power abuse and violation of equality rules on tenders related to the pilot project of electronic voting that was applied in the 2013 elections in Tirana and Fier.

The project failed in both cases but according to the auditing body, the Central Electoral Commission paied 2.5 million euros to the contracted company. INDRA, a private company who gained the right to apply the project has been paid 60% of the contract’s value for Fier and 70% of that of Tirana project, getting a total of 351.171 million lekë.

The state agency believes that both contracts have violated public interest and were signed without taking in consideration the recommendations of the State Attorney, who had suggested changing 6 articles and completely removing 4 others from the contract. Instead an initial copy was signed.

It’s not the first time Mrs Luzi is indicted for the same case. In 2013 the Socialist Party also accused her for abuses in the electronic voting process but after initial investigations the Prosecutor’s Office terminated the case. This time, The High State Control says it has discovered new evidence that her actions were abusive, thus demanding the reopening of the case.

Mrs Luzi told Top Channel she is informed about these charges but will talk in public after first hearing the Court verdict.

Top Channel