To discuss this topic Life in Kosovo invited: Betim Gjoshi, representative of PDK in Central Election Commission; Florian Dushi, representative of LDK in CEC; Binak Vishaj, representative of AAK in CEC; Adnan Rrustemi, representative of Vetëvendosje in CEC; and Valmir Ismaili, Democracy in Action.
Valmir Ismaili, of Democracy in Action, during the debate said that it is important that the results of the elections of November 3rd to reflect the citizens will. Betim Gjoshi said that the elections day should be a day to celebrate, whereas Florian Dushi asked to not repeat the election abuse that happened in 2010, where the national elections were considered to have warped citizens will.
The Vetëvendosje representative, Adnan Rrustemi, said that many Serbian citizens have applied to participate in the elections of November 3rd and the only document that they posses is a refugee card.
According to Rrustemi, when applying to vote in Kosovo, they should posses a document such as ID card, driving license, health card, or electricity bills to make sure that they lived in Kosovo before 1998. The ones that want to vote with the refugee card may not be from Kosovo; they might be from Bosnia and Croatia and we wouldn’t know.
Around 40 thousand applications coming from Serbia were received by CEC through OSCE. Over 6000 applications were approved and the others were refused.
Moreover, during the debate it was also said that even though the election campaign has started, the CEC still has not finished organization of elections. According to the operational plan of CEC the polling station should have been formed by now, but they are not formed yet.
Another problem that CEC is facing is the electoral list. 20 thousand dead persons and 11 thousand who resigned the Kosovo citizenship were removed from the list, but there are still many more that can be found in the election registers. Betim Gjoshi blames the citizens for not informing the municipality about the death of their family members.
Binak Vishaj said that in the near future CEC will remove 1000 other persons that resigned the Kosovo citizenship.
Furthermore, only 2100 persons have applied from Diaspora to participate in the local election of November 3rd and 1700 applications were approved. In the electoral list are put all the persons that posses Kosovo documents, no matter where they live.
The elections of November 3rd will be observed by many domestic and international organizations. Democracy in Action will have 1600 observers around Kosovo, whereas EU will have 100 observers.