23.04.2023. » 21:17 | DiA
DiA: ELECTIONS IN THE NORTH - IMPROVIZED AND BOYCOTTED BY THE SERBIAN COMMUNITY
"Democracy in Action", through mobile teams, has today observed the election process in the four northern municipalities of the country - North Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zveçan and Zubin Potok. The DiA observers have visited almost all polling stations in these localities.
"Democracy in Action", through mobile teams, has today observed the election process in the four northern municipalities of the country - North Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zveçan and Zubin Potok. The DiA observers have visited almost all polling stations in these localities.
The refusal of political parties from the Serb community to participate in the elections, followed by the withdrawal of candidacies after being certified by CEC, has resulted in a boycott of the elections by the voters of the Serbian community. In this direction, the continuous calls and requests from Lista Srpska to the Serb community to boycott participation in the elections also played a role.
As for the administration of the elections, an improvisation of the election process has been observed, manifested through organizing the elections in mobile containers – replacing almost 70% of the usual polling centres. Improvised polling centres have been placed alongside roads, far from residential areas and in difficult reach for potential voters. Also, most of the polling stations have been merged into alternative polling centres, where the number of registered eligible voters per centre has reached six thousand.
The security of the election process was guaranteed by the Kosovo Police, which was located very close to each of the polling centres. As a result, the electoral process was concluded without any incident, which could undermine the integrity of the process.
In addition to DiA, the election process in each of the polling centres was observed through observers coming primarily from two local non-governmental organizations operating in the north of the country.
While in Serb-populated areas, there was almost a complete boycott of the elections by the voters, in the areas inhabited by the Albanian community, a higher voter turnout was registered.
To this extent, although elections met the minimum legal criteria, they do not guarantee the political legitimacy and representation of the institutions which will derive as a result of such elections.
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