• Prosecution to investigate suspected poisoning from postal votes from Serbia (media)
• Diaspora votes to be transferred today at the ballot counting center (RTK)
• Brnabic: Pristina wants its own Serbs in government (Klan)
• Kurti meets Rasic, discuss election process (Epoka)
• Kosovo – Serbia dialogue, a topic of discussion in Belgrade (Koha)
• Selimi: Whole dialogue process was a mistake (Epoka)
• Palokaj: Kosovo no longer needs a Ministry of European Integration (Koha)

Prosecution to investigate suspected poisoning from postal votes from Serbia (media)

One of the leading stories in all media is that Kosovo’s special prosecution has launched investigations into a possible poisoning of Central Election Commission (CEC) officials who suffered allergic reactions after coming to contact with postal votes from Serbia on Saturday. Koha Ditore reports on its front page that nine election observers, two of them pregnant, have been hospitalised at Pristina Hospital and according to doctors their condition is stable. CEC representatives said they are waiting until police verify the situation before they can make a comment. The Office of the President and the Government did not comment on the incident, whereas a Serbian List representative at the CEC claimed this was “an orchestrated show”. The paper also notes that the incident has been compared to the poisoning of Albanian pupils in 1990 by the Milosevic regime. Radio Free Europe reported on Sunday that the CEC has temporarily suspended the counting of expatriate votes in parliamentary elections after several election workers complained of health problems. Zeri covers the incident under the leading front-page headline Poisoning derails verification of votes. Representatives of the Vetevendosje Movement, which won the highest number of votes in the snap parliamentary elections, called on authorities to investigate the causes of poisoning and also “the packages that were transported from Serbia in an organised manner by the state of Serbia”. They also said that “these packages with votes did not arrive through mail, as foreseen in the Law on Elections, but were brought illegally by the Serbian Liaison Office and therefore should be rejected”.

Diaspora votes to be transferred today at the ballot counting center (RTK)

Over fifteen thousand and five hundred votes of the Diaspora, will be transferred today from the Ministry of Infrastructure to the Center for Counting and Results, the news website reports. After Saturday’s event, where Central Election Commission officials were poisoned, the CEC held a meeting behind the closed doors and decided to transfer the verified and assessed votes from Diaspora, to the ballot counting center. Kosovo Police will escort the transfer of votes. After the extraordinary meeting, CEC President Valdete Daka said adecision on the envelopes that are being investigated will be made only after thorough investigations are completed.

Brnabic: Pristina wants its own Serbs in government (Klan)

Ana Brnabic, Prime Minister of Serbia, said while commenting the case of interruption of counting the votes from Serbia which caused allergic reactions to the officials, that “this is an effort to put their Serbs in Pristina’s new government”. “I am afraid that they are not interested how Serbs voted, and they are not interested on the Serbs that would join that government. We are talking about people who, when they wanted to create the Kosovo Army, violated their own Constitution,” Brnabic told Tv Pink.

Kurti meets Rasic, discuss election process (Epoka)

Vetevendosje Movement’s candidate for the prime minister Albin Kurti, met on Sunday with the leader of the Sloboda coalition, Nenad Rasic, in one of Pristina hotels. After the meeting, Kurt said Rasic was disappointed with the election process at Serb majority settlements. “Nenad Rasic has no affair or scandal as Minister. He is one of the best ministers after the declaration of the independence of Kosovo. I discussed with him the election process at Serb-majority municipalities and he is very disappointed. I was interested to understand about the flow of the election process in these municipalities,” Kurti said adding that Kosovo institutions are constitutionally obliged to integrate communities, not only the Serb one but the others as well. “We will start dialogue with all of them. We do not have any distinctions in this respect with LDK. It was valuable for me to understand harmful impacts made to Kosovo Serbs citizens,” Kurti said.

Kosovo – Serbia dialogue, a topic of discussion in Belgrade (Koha)

The paper reports in one of its front-page stories that the U.S. Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Matthew Palmer, will be staying in Belgrade this week where he will attend the Belgrade Security Forum (BSF) to discuss solutions needed in the Balkans, including a final settlement between Kosovo and Serbia. The paper also that the organiser of the event has decided not to invite politicians from Kosovo and Serbia.

Selimi: Whole dialogue process was a mistake (Epoka)

Vetevendosje Movement (VV) leadership member and candidate for MP, Rexhep Selimi, tp;d the paper that a new government led by VV leader Albin Kurti will have a different approach on the dialogue with Serbia. “We will have a completely different relation and approach towards Serbia without affecting at any time territorial sovereignty and integrity of the Republic, and also, we will approach this problem which requires solution, with maximal transparency,” Selimi said. “Relations with Serbia does not necessarily mean there will be negotiations. Relations with Serbia will initially have reciprocal political, trade and economic relations, then we will see and act further,” he said. According to Selimi, the dialogue process so far has been a complete mistake, and it only concerned Serbia’s demands, which were in contradiction with Kosovo’s Constitution.

Palokaj: Kosovo no longer needs a Ministry of European Integration (Koha)

The paper’s Brussels-based correspondent, Augustin Palokaj, argues in an opinion piece that an eventual ruling coalition between the Vetevendosje Movement and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) would not need a Ministry for European Integration. “The European Union is slowing down the already-slow process of integration, in which Kosovo does not even take part, and it is not known when it could join the process. So, having a Ministry for something that may come 10 or 20 years later, is a luxury that Kosovo cannot afford. Pristina must not give up on the process of approximation with the European Union, but the task of coordinating the line ministries can be handled by an office close to the Office of the Prime Minister,” Palokaj writes.