Supreme Court rules in favour of Berisha’s re-certification
(All monitored broadcasters, KTV)
One day before beginning of the local election campaign, the Kosovo Supreme Court ruled in favour of Zafir Berisha. The Court decided that Zafir Berisha may be re-certified to run for the mayor of Prizren.
This was confirmed to Arta TV by MP Berisha himself. He said that the decision of the Central Election Commission (CEC) and of the Elections Complaint and Appeals Panel (ECAP) was unfair.
“As of today, I restart even more powerfully my race for Prizren, for an indubitable victory on 22nd October,” Berisha told Arta TV.
MP Berisha, along with 85 more candidates, was de-certified by CEC to run for the local elections. Berisha had qualified the CEC’s decision as politically influenced.
Democracy in Action calls for voter education campaign
(All monitored broadcasters, RTK1)
The Democracy in Action coalition called on the Central Election Commission (CEC) to carry out a voter awareness raising campaign, bearing in mind that in the last elections, over 50,000 ballots were found invalid.
Democracy in Action is ready for monitoring the 2017 local elections . IN a press conference, they said that their main goal is complying with the Code of Conduct by political entities.
Albert Krasniqi of Democracy in Action said that they have recruited and trained 61 long-term observers for the October 22 local elections, who will cover the whole election campaign.
“On the Election Day, we will hire around 2500 short-term observers who will cover all polling stations in the entire territory of Kosovo, and from there they will report possible violations, turnout, and anything else that will occur on the Election Day,” Krasniqi said.
At the same time, Democracy in Action called on political parties not to use public resources, civil servants and children in the campaign, as they did in the past.
In addition, Democracy in Action called on political entities to provide equal opportunities to all social groups in Kosovo, especially to women, saying that women’s turnout in the last elections was extremely low, and few of them had the opportunity to address the rallies that they attended. Democracy in Action also called on political parties to adhere to their signed statement that election management bodies shall be represented at least by 40 percent women.
Not everything ready for Justice Agreement implementation
(KTV)
The Justice Agreement will start to be implemented on 17th October, but not everything will be ready then.
At least on that date, the Mitrovica/Mitrovicë Basic Court will not have a president.
This was confirmed by Nehat Idrizi, chairperson of the Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC). According to him, 48 judges who will work at the Court still have not been decreed.
Implementation of the Agreement will happen at several phases. New Minister of Justice Abelard Tahiri spoke about beginning of implementation of the Agreement.
These statements were made following the meeting between the KJC chairperson Idrizi and Minister Tahiri. At this meeting, they agreed on cooperation, particularly in the legislation that affects court functioning, such as Law on KJC and Law on Courts.
Special Prosecution collecting evidence on Rikalo case
(KTV)
The Kosovo’s Special Prosecutor’s Office has started to collect the necessary data, in order to verify claims of involvement of Minister \Nenad Rikalo in mistreatment of some residents in Dardania neighbourhood in Prishtinë/Pristina.
Witnesses have been interviewed at the Kosovo Police premises, War Crime Unit Investigation, by participation and under direct supervision of the case prosecutor.
“Four witnesses have been interviewed so far, and more witnesses will be interviewed in the coming days, and the necessary relevant evidence will be obtained to establish whether there is ground to issue a decision for launching the investigation,” prosecutor Drita Hajdari told KTV.
Krasniqi: Rikalo should be dismissed
(KTV)
Besides the troubles caused by opposition parties, the Government Coalition has received a warning even by one of its partners. Talking to KTV Rubicon show, chairman of the Nisma National Council Jakup Krasniqi said that this Government has six month time to prove if it is capable of working and taking decisions in the interest of citizens; otherwise, Nisma will consider the possibility of terminating cooperation.
Krasniqi still opposes the current version of the demarcation agreement with Montenegro, and he is also against establishment of the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities.
Former Assembly Speaker Jakup Krasniqi, whose party is in power, said that Minister Nenad Rikalo should be dismissed after the allegations that were made against him. According to him, the Haradinaj Government is not taking logical decisions.
“Had there been logical actions in all sides, he should have been dismissed. It is not logical, because he should have resigned if there were a common sense,” Krasniqi said.
