State Election Commissioner Ilirjan Celibashi has announced that the Central Election Commission is seeking to test once again the use of artificial intelligence in the process of counting and evaluating ballots for the 2027 local elections. According to the version presented by him, this would be only a pilot project, not a replacement for the procedures provided by law.
CEC speaks of a return to the AI pilot
During a television interview, Celibashi discussed preparations for next year’s local elections and said the institution he leads is aiming to again apply artificial intelligence in the counting and evaluation of ballots.
He clarified that this initiative, if it moves forward, would be used in pilot form and would not replace the legal mechanism for producing the result. At this stage, the CEC’s signal remains more of a technological test than a real change to the counting architecture.
Still no decision, with costs as an obstacle
Celibashi himself acknowledged that there is still no final decision on the scope of this project. According to him, the main reason no decision has yet been made is the cost.
This means the public announcement remains in the assessment phase rather than at the level of an approved plan. For a process as sensitive as vote counting, the weight of the costs and the way they are justified are expected to be part of the public debate.
Tirana is mentioned, but not the entire capital
According to Celibashi, even if the project is piloted in Tirana, it will not be extended across the whole city. The option he mentioned is for the test to be implemented only in one or several Election Administration Zones.
This limitation shows that the CEC is not speaking about broad use of the technology in the 2027 elections, but rather about a controlled experiment in a limited area. At this stage, it remains unclear by what criteria the areas where it could be applied would be selected.
Tepelena also mentioned as a possibility, without any declared significance
Celibashi also mentioned Tepelena as a possible option for testing, stressing that such a choice would not carry any special significance.
The statement suggests that the CEC is keeping several scenarios open for piloting the technology, but without yet presenting a full framework for standards, process control, or the transparency of human verification against the result the system could produce.
For now, the clearest element from the CEC chief’s statement is that artificial intelligence is being considered as a supporting tool and not as a substitute for counting under the law.
However, without a final decision, without details on costs, and without clarification on audit guarantees, the idea remains at the level of an initiative that raises more questions than answers.