Prishtina, 9th of June 2017 – The Democracy for Development (D4D) Institute in partnership with Democracy in Action (DiA) held the round table “Electoral Justice in the Elections of June 11th”.
On his opening remarks of Mr. Shpend Emini, Executive Director of Democracy for Development Institute, highlighted that justice in these elections is an important factor for the electoral process, in order to ensure the right to vote as a basic right, which should be exercised freely. A democratic country must provide the opportunity for its citizens to elect their representatives through free and fair elections. His Excellency Mr. Greg Delawie, Ambassador of the United States of America to Kosovo stressed the importance of the democratic election process, where the greater importance is the one of the citizens. Citizens should be allowed to vote freely, not being manipulated or forced to vote. This is the main basis for conducting of a democratic process.
Mrs. Valdete Daka, Chairwomen of the Central Election Commission, said that this is the third time that CEE organizes early elections and that this is a big challenge for the institution to organize them in the best way. Also, the large number of accredited observers is a condition for not allowing any manipulations of votes. On the other side, Mrs. Laura Pula, National Coordinator for Elections from the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor, said that our work is intended to prosecute all those who intend to damage the electoral process. Also during this week we have been in many of Kosovo’s municipalities to communicate to the public the sanctions that occur in case of not respecting the electoral process. Mr. Naim Rexha, Deputy General Director of Kosovo Police Operations, said that on the occasion of announcing early elections, Police have been monitoring the campaign part and this will continue also on monitoring the Election Day. So far there have been no cases that will directly affect the election and I hope it will continue the same. Mr. Hasim Sogojeva from the Kosovo Justice Council said that during the 24 hours of elections day, judges will be appointed to address all issues raised in the field as quickly as possible. Mr. Mul Desku, Chair of the Secretariat of the Electoral Complaints and Appeals College, called on citizens to submit all their complaints to their panel in order for them to be notified and address this issues at the justice institutions.
These roundtables have been made possible in partnership with Democracy in Action and financial support from USAID Kosovo and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, the Pristina Office.
