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| Some of the Albanian candidates |
Tomorrow, Swiss citizens will elect a new parliament. In these elections, 30 Albanian candidates from almost every political party competing for seats in the National Council, that is, for deputies, have participated for the past month. Unlike previous years, this is a record number of Albanian candidates. Almost all of the over 5 million ballot papers have already reached the Central Election Commission in 26 cantons, reports the Swiss newspaper in Albanian, Canton27.ch.
In Switzerland, there are 300,000 Albanians living and working, of whom more than 100,000 have Swiss passports.
During the recent visit of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, to Switzerland, after meeting with the President of the Swiss Confederation, together with Minister Hajrulla Çeku, at the Embassy of Kosovo in Bern, they met the Albanian candidates in the federal elections on October 22, whom they wished success and victory in the electoral campaign and on the day of the vote.
Today, there are 300,000 Albanians living and working in Switzerland, of which more than 100,000 Albanians from all the Balkan regions have been naturalized, meaning they hold Swiss passports, and more than half of them have the right to vote.
While the migration of Italians to Switzerland began immediately after World War II in the 1950s, they now have several deputies and policies in high state institutions. On the other hand, Albanians from the Balkans, especially Kosovars, began to migrate to Switzerland a little later in the 1970s for known reasons, such as discriminatory policies and pressure from the Serbian regime.
Ueli Leuneberger, the founder of the People's University in Geneva and the "ambassador" of Albanians in Switzerland, told ATV TV that "It is time for a candidate from the Albanian community to sit in the Swiss Parliament in Bern."