Gaon: Election material will be transported to Serbia
(RTK2)
People with Serbian citizenship will be able to vote in Serbia’s parliamentary elections on 16 March throughout Kosovo. The OSCE Mission Spokesperson Nikola Gaon says that in line with the consultations with Prishtinë/Pristina and Belgrade, the OSCE will set up 10 collection centers with 15 branches.
Differently from polling station committees, as they are called in Serbia, where the political party representatives are represented, around 400 OSCE Mission staff will be responsible for the voting process in collection centers.
“It is at our interest to use people that have language skills, which are people that speak and understand Serbian. Upon closure, we will pack the entire material and transport it to Raska and Vranje, where the Serbia’s Electoral Commission (RIK) will further proceed them,” Gaon said.
One of the Kosovo Serb representatives believes that organization of the upcoming elections is similar to the 2012 ones, and that this solution is not satisfactory.
“We face serious problems about arrival of voters to those polling centers, whatever you call them; however, the most important thing is that citizens who are eligible voters will have the right to materialize it. This is the most important thing in whole this story,” said Vladeta Kostic, Head of Kosovo District.
“As of today we started with distribution of leaflets by which we inform people on where the ballot collection centers and their branches will be set up,” Gaon added.
OSCE to involve hundreds of staff members for Serbia’s elections in Kosovo
(RTK1)
The OSCE Mission in Kosovo confirms that it will involve hundreds of staff members for protecting the right of Kosovo Serb citizens to vote in the neighbouring country’s parliamentary elections that will be held this Sunday. According to Spokesperson Nikola Gaon, the Mission will set up ballot collection centres, and later on it will transport the ballots to Serbia.
Around 400 OSCE staff members from Kosovo and the region will observe the process of what they call collection of ballots from Kosovo Serb citizens for Serbia’s elections to be held on 16th March. According to Nikola Gaon, Spokesperson, after consultations with all relevant stakeholders, including Belgrade and Prishtinë/Pristina, the OSCE will facilitate this process.
”On 16th March the OSCE will set up ten centres and 15 branches for ballot collection. In the field we will have 400 persons from our staff, who will assist eligible voters,” Gaon said.
According to Gaon, as of Wednesday citizen’s information on the location of centres and branches started. That is where ballots will be collected, and then the OSCE will transport them to Serbia.
“The OSCE will provide the necessary material for the whole process; we will open centres and branches. The process will start on 16th March from 07:00hrs until 20:00hrs, when we will start collecting the entire material and transport it to Raska and Vranje,” Gaon added.
According to Gaon, all collection centres and branches will be set up at schools and cultural centres.
North Mitrovica/Mitrovicë municipality statute still not finalised
(RTK2, Klan Kosova)
On Wednesday, North Mitrovica/Mitrovicë municipal councillors discussed taking solemn oath by the elected mayor and adopting statute of the municipality. The meeting was held behind closed doors. Reportedly, even after many hours of discussions, Albanian and Serb councillors failed to agree on the two main topics of the agenda, while the request for electing chairperson for minorities was approved.
The session continued until the time when this news edition began.
Serb MPs still hope for another mandate of reserved seats
(RTK1)
Serb MPs in the Kosovo Assembly still hope that there will be another mandate for reserved seats. They say that this conviction is based on the dilemma whether two full mandates provided by the Constitution have been completed, since the previous mandate of Assembly was interrupted earlier due to a political crisis that led the country to early elections.
Petar Miletic expressed the concern that if reserved seats for Serbs are not extended, it may cause a political destabilisation, particularly amongst residents of four north Kosovo municipalities.
Zubin Potok Serbs protested
(RTK2)
Around one-hundred Zubin Potok Serbs blocked the police station in this northern municipality, protesting against arrests of their fellow citizens. Kosovo Police arrested one person for offending public order, which was followed by gathering of Zubin Potok citizens who are keeping the police station blocked.
Unofficially, it was said that arrest warrant was issued for the person who had been arrested by the police.
North Serbs owe KEC EUR 100 million
(TV21)
Debts of north Kosovo Serbs to the state of Kosovo for power bills reach up to EUR 100 million. They have not paid the bills for 14 years.
Kuçi: Next EULEX mission needs to be defined soon
(TV21)
The next EULEX mission needs to be defined as soon as possible, said Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Hajredin Kuçi in his meeting with the German Ambassador to Kosovo Peter Blomeyer.
On this occasion, they discussed cooperation between Kosovo and Germany, as well as EULEX Mission in Kosovo.
Krasniqi blames LDK for failure to investigate SHIK
(KTV)
Florin Krasniqi, who persisted on investigating the Kosovo Intelligence Service (SHIK), believes that LDK is to blame that his initiative failed. According to Krasniqi, LDK was afraid to provide signatures for establishment of an Assembly committee on investigating SHIK, because subsequently the Homeland Security, which was LDK’s intelligence service, would have to be investigated as well.
On the other hand, LDK officials say that they consider SHIK an illegal organisation, and it is prosecutor’s office, not Kosovo Assembly that should deal with its investigation.
