The EU says it remains committed to supporting Kosovo in its European journey. Local elections in Kosovo will be held on October 17, while due to the pandemic, it is not yet known how the election campaign will take place.
The European Union will send a mission to Kosovo to observe the local elections, which will be held on October 17 of this year. The request to the EU for this observation mission was made by the president of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani. In an announcement issued by the EU office in Kosovo, it is stated that the EU's high representative for foreign policy and security, Josep Borrell, appointed the member of the European Parliament from Austria, Lukas Mandl, head of the observation mission for the local elections in Kosovo. . According to Borrel, "The European Union remains committed to supporting Kosovo in its European journey and in strengthening democratic governance."
"For the third time, we will observe the municipal elections in Kosovo through an EU election observation mission. I believe that the presence of this mission will contribute to a comprehensive, reliable and transparent electoral process, as well as help the necessary electoral reforms for the future. We expect to continue cooperation with the Kosovo authorities to strengthen the electoral process, in accordance with the findings and recommendations of our missions", said Borrelli.
10 EU election experts are stationed in Pristina
Meanwhile, the appointed leader of the mission, Austrian MP Lukas Mandl, said that "he is convinced that the mission will bring an added value to the election process. I enjoy the meetings and engagement with the authorities on the ground, political parties, candidates, civil society and other participants in the electoral process", said Mandli. 10 EU election experts have already settled in Pristina, while 22 long-term observers will arrive by mid-September.
The pandemic situation in Kosovo, where the numbers of infections and deaths from Covid-19 are still high, continues to be worrying. For this reason, the political parties have already agreed that the election campaign should be shortened, and it should not be 30 days as provided by law. However, the decision to shorten the election campaign is taken by the Central Election Commission, but in this decision-making body, according to the new chairman of the CEC, Kreshnik Radoniqi, none of the political parties in Kosovo have yet submitted any request regarding the shortening of the period campaign for the local elections to be held on October 17.
"If the political parties submit such a request to the CEC, we will handle the request, we have the Council for legal issues, where they will handle the Law on Elections and the Law on Prevention of the Pandemic and it will be acted upon appropriately", stated Radoniqi, recalling that anyway in the operational plan, the CEC has the obligation to implement the measures decided by the Government of Kosovo, for the prevention and fight against the coronavirus even on the day of the elections.
On August 28, the government of Kosovo tightened anti-Covid measures, limiting freedom of movement and shortening the schedule for gastronomy. Based on this decision, 30 people are allowed indoors, and only up to 50 people outdoors, which means that the gatherings of political parties will be very limited. /DW/
Information source @BalkanWeb: Read more at: www.botasot.al
