A Serb CEC member Stevan Veselinovic addressed the media on September 10, stating that he “left the CEC session not wanting to participate in the work of this institution as long as illegal decisions are made”, after the CEC decision that voters cannot use Serbian identity cards when casting their ballots in the upcoming elections, KIM radio reports.
KIM radio tried to investigate whether Serbs still have a representative in this body.
The use of Serbian documents, up to this election, was common. As of these elections, all identification documents must be issued in Kosovo.
This CEC decision was upheld yesterday by the Supreme Court of Kosovo, made public by CEC President Valdete Dhaka.
Dhaka stated that Veselinovic had left the CEC arbitrarily and that Serbs did not have currently a representative in the institution.
“We received a Supreme Court decision upholding our decision. I think Mr. Veselinovic has no reason to refuse to be a member of the CEC,” Dhaka said.
KIM radio reports that they failed to reach Veselinovic and learn from him whether his departure from one of the previous CEC sessions also meant a definite resignation from membership of the body.
The Serbian List Vice President Dalibor Jevtic says Serbs and the Serb community have no representatives at the CEC currently. He believes that Albanians do not want Serbs to participate in the processes in a democratic manner, that members of non-majority communities in Kosovo are not respected, and points out that this is worrying, reports the radio.
Jevtic added that in the coming days, representatives of the Serbian List will discuss this with members of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM), as well as with other international representatives.
Sloboda coalition leader Nenad Rasic told RTV Kim that, according to his knowledge, the procedures for appointing a new CEC member are not complicated but adds that in this case, it’s not likely that will happen.
”As Veselinovic resigned, the Serbian List may have some other plans, such as not having a representative in the CEC at all, which would be a reckless move in that case,” Rasic said.
President of the Independent Liberal Party (SLS) SLobodan Petrovic says that the procedure for electing a CEC member is clearly regulated by law.
“I do not know now how and in what way the Serbian community will have its representative in the CEC. So far, representatives of the Serb community, which have the highest number of parliamentarians, have had the advantage of nominating a candidate, so it was the Serbian List. We are now in the elections, the parliament is not functioning and now I do not know how and in what way it will be regulated,” Petrovic said, adding that, according to his information, Stevan Veselinovic did not formally resign from his membership in the CEC.
Director of the Office for Political Party Registration at the Central Election Commission of Kosovo, Yll Buleshkaj told RTV Kim that “as far as he knows, there were no formal resignations from Mr. Veselinovic,” and referred RTV KIM to his colleague, Vali Elesi, to check Veselinovic’s status.
Like Veselinovic, Elesi was not available for interview, reports KIM radio.
Dragan Jablanovic of the Kosovo Serb Party believes that this issue should not be left. He added all was rejected, it came to the Constitutional Court. According to him it would be better to have a representative, than not to have one.
He said that that ” if there was no representative of Serbs, then we should agree not to go to the polls at all, all Serb options, if that has happened. Then that would be one solution, so that we do not see such moves in the future from institutions in Pristina, “Jablanovic said.
Whatever is true, whether Stevan Veselinovic’s formal resignation is clear or not, the only thing that is clear is that Serbs are not participating in the CEC for the time being and that they will not be able to use Serbian documents in the upcoming elections, concludes KIM radio.
