• COVID – 19: 245 new cases, three deaths (media)
• Kurti: I lead the Vetevendosje list (media)
• CEC allows unverified voters to vote too (media)
• Vetevendosje leads with 51 percent, according to poll (media)
• Voting in Kosovo election delayed for citizens living abroad (BIRN)
• Hoti: U.S. is helping us manage the situation (media)
• EU: Kosovo decision to open embassy in Jerusalem, regrettable (media)
• “Kosovo recognition sends clear message to EU non-recognising states” (media)
• Arab League condemns Kosovo opening of embassy in Jerusalem (DNE)
• AKR leader Behgjet Pacolli, candidate for Kosovo President (media)
• U.S. Embassy supports “Future is in Our Hands” campaign (media)
• Kosovo urged to establish museum in child war victims’ memory (BIRN)

COVID – 19: 245 new cases, three deaths (media)

245 new cases of COVID-19 and three deaths from the virus were recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo. 189 persons have recovered from the virus during this time. There are 6,429 active cases of COVID – 19 in Kosovo. Kosovo’s National Institute for Public Health in a statement on Tuesday called for the strict prohibition of election rallies.

Kurti: I lead the Vetevendosje list (media)

Vetevendosje Movement (VV) leader Albin Kurti presented the government program and list of MP candidates for the February parliamentary elections through a video on Facebook on Tuesday. Kurti presented himself as leader of the list. “I am the leader of the list. Number 2 is Vjosa Osmani, professor of law, Acting President and future President of the Republic of Kosovo. Number 3 is Glauk Konjufca, an activist of Vetevendosje, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, and MP of the Republic of Kosovo,” Kurti said.

Kurti said the top priority of his government would be to restore normality and that they have special plans to address the numerous crisis caused by the COVID – 19 pandemic. “We will vaccinate at least 60 percent of the population … We will immediately start talks with countries in the region, especially with Albania, to jointly manage the COVID – 19 pandemic. We will also prepare a bid for our membership in the World Health Organisation,” he said.

CEC allows unverified voters to vote too (media)

Koha Ditore reports in one of its front-page stories that Kosovo’s Central Election Commission (CEC) adopted on Tuesday afternoon a recommendation allowing voters in the diaspora, who have not been verified through phone calls, to be able to send their ballots by mail for the February parliamentary elections.

Kallxo news website quotes CEC Chairwoman Valdete Daka as saying that no one from the diaspora will be denied their right to vote in the parliamentary elections. “All those that have met the legal requirements. The list also includes those that were not confirmed through phone calls. No one will be denied their right to vote,” she said.

Vetevendosje leads with 51 percent, according to poll (media)

Prishtina-based Kanal 10 published the results of a poll conducted by the Albanian Post and the Gani Bobi Institute according to which the list of Vetevendosje Movement (VV) and Vjosa Osmani leads with 51 percent, followed by the Democratic League of Kosovo (15 percent), the Democratic Party of Kosovo (13 percent), the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (5 percent) and NISMA with 1.8 percent.

Voting in Kosovo election delayed for citizens living abroad (BIRN)

Kosovo citizens living outside the country have not been able to start voting because the Central Election Commission has not uploaded the ballot paper yet and only some of those who applied to vote have been officially verified.

Voters living abroad were not able to start downloading ballot papers for Kosovo’s snap general elections directly after midnight on Tuesday morning as promised, and the Central Election Commission CEC, has yet to upload the ballot paper so voters can access them.

Voters outside Kosovo were scheduled to be able to cast their ballots by post from February 2-12, ahead of the in-person voting on February 14. However, not all of those who applied to vote from abroad have yet been officially verified by telephone, and the list of candidates has also not yet been uploaded.

BIRN contacted the CEC to find out why it had not uploaded the ballot paper, but it did not answer by the time of publication.

But it announced in a media advisory that it will have a meeting at 5pm on Tuesday, with “certification of the final list of voters for the early elections” and the “review and approval of the ballot” on the agenda.

“The CEC is shortening the deadline for members of the diaspora to send in votes because the voting should have started today, but the CEC has not published the list of voters and it has not approved the ballot paper, which is a suppression of the diaspora’s right to vote,” Lirim Krasniqi, the head of the NGO GERMIN, which deals with diaspora issues, told BIRN.

CEC spokesperson Valmir Elezi said on Monday that “ballots must be accepted by the CEC by February 12”.

But some voters living abroad are concerned that postal delays and confusion about whether or not people have been properly verified could mean that their votes arrive later than the deadline and will not be accepted, as happened at the previous snap elections in Kosovo in October 2019.

In December 2020, Kosovo’s Constitutional Court annulled a Supreme Court ruling that allowed postal votes that arrived after the deadline to be counted.

According to the Kosovo Agency of Statistics, around 800,000 Kosovo citizens live outside the country and their interest in voting in their homeland’s elections has risen over the years.

A report by GERMIN on out-of-country voting for the October 2019 snap election said that in 2014, some 29,745 people living abroad applied to registered. Only around 16,500 of them were approved.

In 2017, only 20,345 registered to vote, with around 15,100 of them approved.

The number of applications doubled in 2019, with around 40,300 applying and over 35,000 being approved.

The CEC has said it has received 175,000 applications from citizens living abroad to vote in February’s election, of which over 103,000 have been given preliminary approval.

However, prospective voters living abroad must be verified by telephone.

Krasniqi claimed that the CEC has only managed to call 65,400 applicants so far.

In mid-January, the CEC decided to verify voters abroad via telephone calls. It decided to call applicants a maximum of three times, in case they did not answer immediately. If the applicant did not answer after three calls, their application was rejected.

The move was criticised by NGOs as a violation of overseas voters’ rights.

Krasniqi claimed that of the 65,400 applicants who have been called so far, fewer than 0.4 per cent failed the verification process, showing that the CEC did not have “a legitimate reason behind its decision to verify potential voters from the diaspora”.

Some Kosovo citizens living abroad have taken to social media to complain about the difficulties they have had in registering to vote, and about problems with verification by telephone. Some wrote on Twitter that they or their relatives have been called several times by different CEC officials even though they already answered, while other applicants have not even been called once.

Hoti: U.S. is helping us manage the situation (media)

Kosovo’s outgoing Prime Minister, Avdullah Hoti said on Tuesday that the United States of America are helping Kosovo authorities to manage the situation following many reactions after the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel.

“Those that have brought us the recognition from Israel – the United States of America – are helping us manage the situation … We are trying to be careful with other countries that are in a sensitive situation. There have been reactions, from the spokesman of the European and the Arab League … We need recognitions from all four corners of the world. Our foreign policy is in line with the United States and the European,” Hoti said.

EU: Kosovo decision to open embassy in Jerusalem, regrettable (media)

Peter Stano, a spokesman for the European Union, said on Tuesday that Brussels expect Kosovo to act based on the statements on European integration as a strategic goal, in reference to the decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem. “When it comes to opening the embassy in Jerusalem, this is a regrettable decision because it is diverging Kosovo from the EU’s position on Jerusalem,” he said.

“Kosovo recognition sends clear message to EU non-recognising states” (media)

Alon Ben-Meir, a U.S. commentator of developments in the Western Balkans, took to Facebook on Tuesday to argue that the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Kosovo and Israel on Monday is very significant, as Kosovo will be the first Muslim-majority country to place its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem.

“Likewise, the recognition of Kosovo’s independence by Israel sends a clear message to the five EU countries that oppose its sovereignty that its legitimacy as an independent nation is only growing. Kosovo’s future is with the EU, and the five holdout countries must come to realize that sooner than later,” he added.

Arab League condemns Kosovo opening of embassy in Jerusalem (DNE)

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit has condemned, in the strongest terms, Kosovo’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and its decision to open an embassy in the city under occupation.

Aboul Gheit emphasised that the decision is both illegitimate, and represents a violation of international law that considers Jerusalem an occupied territory. He noted that international law prohibits the transfer of embassies to the city, on this basis.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Secretary-General stressed that the Kosovan decision violates the international consensus regarding the opening of embassies in occupied Jerusalem. Only two countries have so far violated this consensus, namely the US and Guatemala.

At the same time, Aboul Gheit stressed that the UN Security Council resolutions are clear in this regard, especially Resolution 478 of 1980. This condemns Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, and prohibits states from establishing diplomatic missions in the city.

He said that the opening of any country’s embassy in Jerusalem does not change the fact that the city is under occupation, and its fate can only be decided by negotiation.

This takes into account the fact that Jerusalem is one of the most important issues in the negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis.

Aboul Gheit also noted that the move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital contradicts the logic of a peaceful settlement and a two-state solution.

AKR leader Behgjet Pacolli, candidate for Kosovo President (media)

Most news websites reported on Tuesday evening that New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) leader Behgjet Pacolli will run for Kosovo President. “Kosovo at this time needs a powerful president, with many friends and a clean record, someone who is accepted by our foreign friends too,” an advisor to Pacolli told Klan Kosova.

U.S. Embassy supports “Future is in Our Hands” campaign (media)

The United States Embassy in Kosovo said in a press release on Tuesday that it is proud to support the “Future in Our Hands” multimedia public service announcement (PSA) campaign. This campaign, which launched in September 2020, highlights how everyone living in Kosovo can play a role through active civic engagement in building and ensuring a peaceful, just, and prosperous future. Change is only possible when the people of Kosovo take ownership of their future and take action to spur change.

The latest PSA released in December is entitled “I Say No to Corruption, Every No Counts.” Corruption remains one of the largest impediments to Kosovo’s economic growth, private sector investment, and creation of employment opportunities, especially for young people. Through simple actions –saying “no” by refusing to participate in even small-scale nepotism, bribery, and corruption and reporting it – ordinary people can have a real and lasting impact in countering corruption.

Kosovo urged to establish museum in child war victims’ memory (BIRN)

Families of children killed during the Kosovo war who provided pictures and personal belongings for a successful exhibition in Pristina are now asking for a permanent memorial museum to be set up.

Dea Dedi, the manager of an exhibition staged by the Humanitarian Law Centre in Pristina, told BIRN that the relatives of the children whose pictures and belongings are on display are calling for a permanent location to be found to exhibit the items.

The exhibition at the Hivzi Sylejmani Library in central Pristina, entitled ‘Once Upon a Time and Never Again’, includes photographs and personal items like clothes and toys commemorating more than 600 children who were killed during the 1998-99 war.

“We are facing huge demands for the exhibition to stay open permanently,” said Dedi.

Since its opening in 2019, thousands of people have visited the exhibition which was organised in memory of the 1,024 children who were killed and 109 who went missing amid the conflict.

Dedi said that even more families want to bring items to put on display, and that there is not enough space to accommodate them all.

The Humanitarian Law Centre has asked the authorities for a permanent space, but Dedi said that so far the Ministry of Culture and the Kosovo Museum, the country’s national museum, have not responded.

“Turning [the exhibition] into a museum would be the most appropriate thing, taking into consideration that in Kosovo there is no place for information about the war and the remembrance of victims,” she said.

Dedi said that the portraits of the children in the exhibition make a powerful impact.

“When you face them, it is impossible not to be saddened. Each experience is unique. On the wall, their smiling portraits remind us of our responsibility,” she said.

She explained that the display is a memorial rather than just an exhibition.

“It was not just done to commemorate the victims and survivors, but also to seek the truth,” she said.