Parliament has approved a new law on national elections, but several MPs said the law will not lead to real reform.
Pristina
Lawmakers in Kosovo voted 44-2 in favour of an election law that is considered a precondition for the upcoming national elections due later this year.
But, several MPs criticized the move, questioning the effect it will have in reforming the electoral system in Kosovo.
Although the ruling Kosovo Democratic Party backed the vote, Arsim Bajrami, one of its MPs who has been advocating major changes, said it “does not promote any substantial electoral reform that Kosovo needed.
“The changes made to this law have to do more with the administrative aspect of the electoral process than with the electoral system itself,” he added.
The European Union urged Kosovo authorities to conduct electoral reforms after it said the last national elections held in 2010 were marred by several shortcomings.
The importance of comprehensive reform was highlighted in the 2010 EU Election Expert Mission’s Report as well as in the European Commission’s 2011 Progress Report, which called for a simplified and more transparent system that would address electoral fraud.
But, 18 MPs of the oppostion Vetevendosje Movement abstained from the vote.
Albulena Haxhiu, from the Vetevendosje Movement, complained that parts of the new legislation were put in it “without being discussed in the parliamentary commission for legislation.
“This is an attempt to degrade the parliament…. done to accommodate the [political] appetites of the PDK and the LDK”, she said, referring to an article of the new legislation establishing a new formula for the division of seats in the parliament.
The new legislation foresees only a few changes to the existing law on elections and most deal with administrative issues such as the threshold to enter parliament and the length of the electoral campaign, among others.
The legislation will have to be amended in parliemantary commissions and can enter into force only after a second vote at the parliament.
Kosovo held its last national elections in 2010, while the last local elections were held in autumn of last year.
