7 Albanians, candidates in the parliamentary elections in Greece

2023-05-17 15:17:11, Kosova & Bota CNA

7 Albanians, candidates in the parliamentary elections in Greece

Albanians running in the Greek elections

Seven members of the Albanian immigrant community, who have been living in the neighboring country for years, are participating in the parliamentary elections on May 21 in Greece.

While three other candidates: Adiljan Koxhaj, Makrina Koci and Angjelos Jahollari, compete with the "Syriza" Party in Thessaloniki and Evia.

Sidorela Kalthi is running for the Greek Communist Party in Crete and Paty Vardhami is running in Athens with the "MERA 25" initiative.

The leadership of the Albanian Community in Greece organized a meeting with 6 of the Albanian candidates in the May 21 parliamentary elections and community activists, through the electronic platform "Zoom", organizational secretary Irfan Abazaj told "Voice of America".

According to Mr. Abazaj, for the Albanian community in Greece, the candidacy of Albanians for the Greek parliamentary elections is considered very positive as a sign of integration and inclusion in the Greek social-political life.

About 87,000 of this category of Albanian immigrants, according to preliminary estimates, have the right to vote in the Greek parliamentary elections on May 21.

Albanian emigration to Greece faces many challenges related to their residence status.

The Albanian Embassy in Athens said a few days ago that the coordinating officer for the Diaspora, Joneda Dodaj, held a meeting with the Secretary General for Migration Policies of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Patroklos Georgiadis.

According to the Albanian diplomatic headquarters, the main topics of discussion were: related to time delays in issuing residence permits and their consequences in the daily life of Albanian citizens, such as health insurance and free movement in the Schengen area.

The revision of the legal framework related to residence permits for the first generation of Albanian citizens, who are on the verge of retirement age, as well as the acceleration of the procedures for obtaining a residence permit through the complete digitization of the procedures and the increase of special personnel for examination of requests./ VOA