The overall aim of this report is to improve coordination between election management bodies and judicial authorities by unveiling cross-institutional data from the past elections, and identifying actions that these institutions can undertake to advance their coordination in all stages of the election cycle. The report was developed under the Electoral Justice Project funded by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).
The report covers data on: adjudication of administrative election offenses, oversight of political finance, investigation and resolution of serious electoral crimes, and responses to complaints against the media. Where the information was available, the data was broken down by nature of electoral violations, type of judgement, and municipality or region where alleged violations occurred. To develop this report, D4D collected raw data from the: Election Complaints and Appeals Panel (ECAP), Central Election Commission (CEC), State Prosecutor (SP), Kosovo Police (KP), Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC) and Independent Media Commission (IMC). The data from each of these institutions is presented in separate chapters below.
The order of the chapters follows the chronological flow of electoral justice events from the moment disputes are lodged, to the moment they are resolved. First, electoral grievances are submitted to ECAP, which is the first instance body responsible for adjudicating complaints and appeals. Second, the CEC as the primary body responsible for the conduct of elections, can refer suspicious cases of electoral fraud to the SP for further review. Third, the SP is responsible for investigating cases before raising indictments to the Basic Courts. Fourth, in order to collect evidence and complete the investigations, SP may require help from the Kosovo Police. Fifth, indictments are raised to Basic Courts if the SP possesses sufficient evidence that electoral crime was committed, and judges issue verdicts on cases pertaining to electoral crimes. Sixth, it is also important to look at the complaints related to alleged media violations which are resolved by the IMC. The data on the appeals to the Supreme Court against ECAP’s decisions was included under the ECAP chapter.
The report also includes a workflow of election disputes in 2014, which was the only year with all of the data available. The workflow makes it easier to visualize the engineering behind electoral justice, as disputes travel from one institution to another until they are resolved completely. At times, the workflow indicates potential statistical mismatches (?) and missing data. The workflow is enclosed in a separate sheet within this publication, and can also be found in electronic format.
Finally, the report ends with recommendations, framed as a checklist of actions which are intended to strengthen the institutional chain, by identifying possible actions that each institution can undertake in different stages of the electoral cycle. The checklist includes contributions from multiple actors including representatives of election management bodies, judges, prosecutors, police officers and civil society election experts.
This report would not have been possible without the cooperation of the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel, Central Election Commission, State Prosecutor, Kosovo Police, Kosovo Judicial Council, and Independent Media Commission. These institutions made the data available in a timely manner as requested, and were also available for clarification and consultation throughout the process.
