With Albania’s 2025 general elections drawing closer, the latest weekly report from Pikasa Analytics reveals a dynamic and polarized media environment where justice, corruption, and digital engagement take center stage. The Election Scanner, a real-time monitoring feature developed by Pikasa, tracked over 4,000 articles daily and thousands of social media posts on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, providing deep insights into public discourse, platform dynamics, and political influence.

Key Weekly Findings (07-13.04.2025):

• Justice and Corruption Lead the Narrative: SPAK and corruption remain key pillars of the media narrative, with SPAK generating over 1,600 articles and over 76,000 social media engagements, while corruption content triggered over 69,000 engagements. Although SPAK peaked earlier in the month, corruption now has a higher engagement-per-post rate (212), signaling sustained public sensitivity to governance and accountability themes.
• Edi Rama continues to dominate both media and social media, with over 783,000 total engagements, while Sali Berisha follows with 352,000. Both are strongly linked to topics such as SPAK, corruption, and EU integration. However, Belinda Balluku and Agron Shehaj are emerging as influential figures, generating over 200,000 and 149,000 engagements respectively, despite significantly fewer media appearances.

Photo 1: Top 5 Politicians and topics

• TikTok Outperforms All Platforms in engagement per post (~888), despite being the least used by politicians. In contrast, Facebook and YouTube remain the most used, yet with significantly lower interaction per post (415 and 127).
•  Political newcomers such as Lëvizja Bashkë and Shqipëria bëhet continue to gain digital traction. Though still far behind the Socialist and Democratic Parties in volume, they are showing notable presence in debates on corruption, pensions, and electoral reform, signaling shifting dynamics in voter interest and media strategy.

Photo 2: Top 5 Parties and topics

• Hate Speech Remains High: Rama and Berisha lead in total hate speech volume—each receiving thousands of toxic comments. Meanwhile, Taulant Balla records the highest hate speech ratio at 10%, despite having fewer total comments. This highlights ongoing concerns over digital toxicity, especially around high-profile and polarizing figures.
• Emotion Drives Engagement: While political topics dominate, emotive events like Belinda Balluku’s infrastructure announcements and international crises involving China and Ukraine also stood out. These stories drew thousands of engagements, confirming that emotionally resonant content—whether hopeful or tragic—still commands significant audience attention.

Election Scanner: AI-Powered Monitoring
Pikasa’s Election Scanner is a media intelligence product combining AI-driven analytics with human expertise. It monitors traditional and social media in real time, identifying key narratives, influencers, hate speech, and public sentiment. Covering over 90 Albanian media outlets and thousands of Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube accounts, it provides actionable insights to embassies, international organizations, and media watchdogs.

Built on a GDPR-compliant platform, Pikasa’s technology dissects six core media dimensions: Audience, Voices, Topics, Influencers, Content, and Platforms. The platform not only quantifies influence but also offers deep qualitative context—making it a vital asset in electoral monitoring, disinformation detection, and democratic oversight.

To access the full Election Scanner report or inquire about subscriptions, contact Aleksandar Cekov, Partnership and Development Executive at: [email protected]