CEC certifies voter list for mayoral elections in north Mitrovica/Mitrovicë
(Most monitored broadcasters, TV21)
The Central Elections Commission (CEC) certified the final voter list for extraordinary mayoral elections in north Mitrovica/Mitrovicë to be held on 23rd February. The voter list contains 28,429 voters, and 927 of them are new voters.
CEC officials said that the voter list was based on the civil registration extract, compiled by the Civil Registration Agency.
Rrustemi to file referral on voter list certification
(KTV)
The Central Elections Commission (CEC) member Adnan Rrustemi stated that 7,000 names on the voter list for extraordinary mayoral elections in north Mitrovica/Mitrovicë that will be held on 23rd February, have no Kosovo citizenship. According to him, those persons are not eligible voters, and their certification has violated Law on Elections and the Kosovo Constitution.
Rrustemi announced that he will file a referral to the Constitutional Court. Rrustemi reacted following presentation of the voter list by the CEC Secretariat. Regardless Rrustemi’s complaint, the list was certified as such, based on the proposal of the Civil Registration Agency.
In this meeting, CEC accredited 30 international observers for the 23rd February election process.
Meanwhile, CEC fined to EUR 1,000 political entities Crnagorska Liberalna Stranka and Kosova Turk Adalet Partisi for not respecting procedures.
Cliff: Too late for electoral reform before general elections
(Most monitored broadcasters, TV21)
The British Ambassador to Kosovo Ian Cliff said that the next general elections need to happen without the electoral reform, since the main political entities still have not reached an agreement about it.
“It is true that the international community said you need to do electoral reform before the next general elections, but basically after three years of messing around it is too late, and I think it is much better now to forget electoral reform and hold good elections, and have determination not to allow manipulation. Civil society should be involved in monitoring the elections. Electoral reform needs to happen after the next general elections,” Ambassador Cliff said.
Arsim Bajrami, PDK MP, said that one should not hurry up in holding extraordinary elections, but instead the elections should be well organised and with no ballot theft.
“Hurrying up with organising extraordinary elections may cause improvisation of the elections, which then will be used as an alibi by our leaders to justify why the elections were not regular,” Bajrami said.
Opposition party representatives said that elections will be held soon, but they highlighted that work is needed in order not to allow repetition of the massive ballot theft which happened in the 2010 elections.
These comments were made at the conference titled ‘Experience in local elections and the way forward in the next elections’ organised by Democracy in Action Coalition, which presented its report on the 2013 November elections.
The conference participants stated that next elections should not happen without cleaning up the voter list, which was one of the key issues in the previous elections.
AAK initiates vote of no confidence for Government
(All monitored broadcasters, KTV)
AAK has started consultations with all opposition political parties to ask for vote of no confidence for the current Thaçi Government. AAK officials say that they are in the process of discussing and seeking support from other parties.
However, representatives of LDK and Vetëvendosje said they were not informed about the AAK’s initiative at all.
PDK, on the other hand, is not afraid of the AAK’s initiative. Its caucus leader Adem Grabovci stated that the initiative will empower PDK to win another mandate.
Grabovci said he supports democratic initiatives, but not those extreme initiatives that are against everything positive that happened in Kosovo.
Gracanica/Graçanicë mayor willing to work with all Kosovo institutions
(RTK1)
Gracanica/Graçanicë mayor Branimir Stojanovic says that he is willing to cooperate with all institutions of the Republic of Kosovo, if that is at the interest of citizens of the municipality he leads.
In an interview with RTK1, Stojanovic also spoke about establishment of the Association of Serb Municipalities. He said that this Association will respect the laws in force.
“This Association will neither be an NGO nor a Republika Srpska. We should simply find ways how to continue our existence in this place. This is the essence. We do not aim to go against anyone,” Bojanovic stated.
Women and children subject to physical violence
(RTK1, KTV)
Physical, psychological, and sexual violence are the most frequent manners of violence exercised against women and children in the municipalities of Dragash/Dragas, Gjakovë/Djakovica, and Gjilan/Gnjilane. This is the conclusion of the recent research on frequency of domestic violence.
At a press conference staged on Thursday, where this research carried out by the UNICEF Office in Kosovo was presented, the participants said that girls in Kosovo cannot decide what they should do with their lives, but they are controlled by someone else, such as the family or the social circle.
UNICEF Kosovo Head of Mission Laila Omar Gad said that domestic violence is an increasing phenomenon, while economic and social issues impact on it.
The key conclusions of the research are that domestic violence occurs the most against women and children in 50% of cases; psychological violence against women goes up to 15%, and 14% against children. This research also tackles on sexual violence against women, which reaches the percentage of 2.7, and it occurs in 1% of the cases against children.
KSF ministry discussed security and gender equality
(Klan Kosova)
Women from Kosovo Correctional Service, Probationary Service, Customs Service and Kosovo Police took part in a discussion organized by the Ministry of Kosovo Security Force (MKSF) with aim to build up cross-institutional cooperation in the field of security and promotion of gender equality.
KSF minister Agim Çeku said that women’s inclusion in the army is the main indicator of the democratization chain in the country, thus marking a major success.
According to him, this occupation entails difficult tasks and duties and it is always challenging; however, irrespective to this, women in KSF have enough space for advancing in their career. Çeku underlined that 183 women have been engaged in different units of the ministry he leads.
