The representative of the Kosovo Central Election Commission (CEC) Miradije Mavriqi said that the only president of the Civic Initiative Serbian Lists was Jablanovic and that there was no political decision that could influence this fact, according to legal provisions.
Repeating the story on the army of Kosovo and a new draft law on the armed forces, the authorities in Pristina try to make room for political pressure and manoeuvre for negotiation with Belgrade in Brussels. It is necessary to modify the Constitution of Kosovo in order to create the legal basis for the military, which means that Serb representatives in the Kosovo parliament need to vote.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) has certified today the political parties and candidates who will participate in the extraordinary elections in Gracanica on 18 January.
The candidates certified by CEC are: Vladeta Kostic from Civic Initiative Srpska, Dragisa Miric from New Kosovo Party, Nenad Rasic from Progressive Democratic Party, and Shaip Berisha from Democratic League of Kosovo.
Member of the CEC, Nenad Rikalo said that at yesterday's meeting of that body were set deadlines for snap local elections for mayor of Gracanica on 18 January.
Rikalo told Beta news agency that the candidates for mayor will be able to apply until 23 December.
The period for voting by mail for displaced persons in central Serbia runs from 13 December to 5 January next year, and the deadline for voting by mail is from the 12th to the 16th of January, added Rikalo.
According to him, the campaign will last only five days, i.e. from 12 to 16 January.
Gazeta Express writes that the President of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga, after consultations with political parties, decided that elections for mayor in the municipality of Gracanica will be held on 18 January 2015.
These elections were announced after the former mayor of Gracanica, Branimir Stojanovic has resigned from his duties upon taking the post of Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo.
Valdete Daka, chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC), denied media reports that this institution is already preparing for early parliamentary elections as a solution to the political deadlock. “We are not making any preparations. On the contrary, we are in the post-election phase of June 8 elections and we are drafting post-election procedures,” Daka said.
Valdete Daka, head of the Kosovo Central Election Commission, said on Sunday that this institution is ready to organize early elections. “Legal timelines for early elections are 30-45 days. The quality of the process of elections would depend on the time available to organize them,” Daka told RTK. She also said that there are no problems with organizing elections in the northern part of Kosovo.
Jan Braathu, the Norwegian Ambassador to Pristina, said Kosovo could very soon go to new elections and called on authorities to implement necessary measures for a more credible and advanced election system. Braathu made these remarks during a roundtable in Pristina organized by Democracy in Action, a coalition of non-governmental organizations. “A series of concrete measures are required to advance the election system because we might have elections again, in fact much sooner than we expect,” Braathu said.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) did not accept the appeal that the Progressive Democratic Party (PDS) filed after the announcement of the final results of parliamentary elections in Kosovo.
Certification of election results could be done today once the legal timeframe for the Supreme Court to review all complaints ends, said the head of Central Election Commission (CEC), Valdete Daka.
The Supreme Court has not yet reached its decision on various complaints it has received and has a 72-hour period to do so. Daka said the CEC will certify election results as soon as the Court reviews all complaints.