The EU observers said in a press conference today that 11 June elections in Kosovo were generally peaceful. Head of the observers’ team, Alojz Peterle, however noted that a number of problems were present in these elections, namely inaccurate lists of voters, family voting, an increased presence of political party observers, voting of diaspora members, as well as voter intimidation in the north of Kosovo.
Peterle said that the cases of intimidation and violence within the Serb community and relating to the electoral process were not adequately tackled by the prosecution and the police. “This raises questions regarding the credibility of the democratic process in these areas”, Peterle said. He also added that the Central Election Commission (CEC) had delays in implementing voter awareness campaign, in publishing decisions and undertaking preventive measures against fraud.
He said back in 2014 elections, EU observers presented a number of recommendations aimed at improving the organising of elections process and that if these continue not to be implemented, there would be no sense to continue monitoring the election process.
At the same time, head of the European Parliament observers for elections in Kosovo, Igor Soltes, spoke of the need to implement recommendations of the EU observers saying that if implemented, they would enable a more equal contest between political parties.
The EU Election Observation Mission in Kosovo is expected to come with a final report on Sunday’s elections which will also include recommendations.
