EU has deployed today  dozens of short-term observers who will monitor Kosovo’s parliamentary elections to be held on 8 June. “Today, our short term observers have deployed at respective zones. They will monitor the entire Kosovo, all the municipalities. They will meet with local election officials, local political parties, they will follow some pre-election gatherings, meet with members of civil society, internal observers as well as representatives of media,” said the Spokesperson of this EU monitoring mission, Sarah Crozier.

The action plan for integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) community which was endorsed by Prizren Municipal Assembly two years ago, remains unimplemented due to the non-allocation of funds from the municipal budget, foreseen in the document.
Therefore, the Municipal Office for Communities and Return (MOCR) in Prizren, addressed a request to the executive bodies of the municipality to allocate €50 thousand to implement this plan.

Enver Robelli in his weekly column says the outgoing prime minister Thaci is so scared of the possibility of losing 8 June elections that he has started to act and speak as if sleepwalking. He is making promises which, in Robelli’s view, are ‘gigantic lies’ pulled out of a sack full of rotten fruits.

“The economic empowerment of women makes our society stronger; it is an investment in the future and a guarantee for our country’s prosperity. The empowerment of women brings changes in society and we must bring down all barriers and enable our women to work for the economic development of our country,” Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga said in today’s conference “Women and Business” in Pristina.

Serbs from the north have frozen all their election activities due to their dissatisfaction with some of the decisions of Central Election Commission, and it remains unknown if they will participate in Kosovo’s general elections that will be held on Sunday. Concerns of the northerners are related mainly to the symbols of the Republic of Kosovo on the ballots, number of the voters outside Kosovo, guaranteed seats and composition of the election councils in the areas with Serb majority.

The Elections Complaints and Appeals Panel is considering eight thousand appeals of Serb voters. Even though the Central Election Commission has certified the final list of voters, without waiting for the conclusion of the process of appeals for rejecting Serb applications, the list can be changed due to the eight thousand appeals that are being considered by the Elections Complaints and Appeals Panel.

If the appeals are considered to be grounded, then CEC members warn on problems during the voting process.

On the front page, the paper runs an interview with the head of the OSCE mission in Kosovo, Jean-Claude Schlumberger, who is quoted as saying that in order to avoid a boycott of the elections in the north, all outstanding issues need to be resolved before 8 June. He also stressed the importance of constructive engagement and understanding the historical situation in the north. “This would be the best recipe to ensure participation and avoid a boycott”, said Ambassador Schlumberger.

The Minister of Interior, Bajram Rexhepi, met with the Ambassador of the United States in Kosovo, Tracey Ann Jacobson. In this occasion, he informed the Ambassador on the preparations of the Ministry, respectively Kosovo Police, to guarantee public order, and freedom of movement for all the citizens during the election process as well as to offer required security conditions during the entire election process.

Columnist Lumir Abdixhiku criticizes the opposition for failing to prepare a detailed government plan on every sector and on every topic. According to Abdixhiku, the Vetevendosje Movement risks strengthening the government by attacking other opposition parties. “And perhaps this is their ultimate goal: to destroy the entire opposition and to present itself as a worthy alternative for future elections and not these ones”.

The paper reports on the front page that the push by some members of the Central Election Commission (CEC) to institute automatic vote recounts at the Counting and Results Center supersedes the competencies of the independent CEC and raises questions about its management of the elections. Election experts and the Dutch ambassador to Kosovo, Robert Bosch, expressed concern, as representatives of political parties in the CEC were expected to vote on the initiative today.