Global Courant 2023-05-23 16:27:53
The new law on general elections threatens electoral integrity in Kosovo, said Ismet Kryeziu from the Democratic Institute of Kosovo (KDI).
According to him, the draft law, which is expected to be examined in an accelerated procedure in the Assembly, is an alarm for civil society and for the actors involved in this process. This is how he expressed himself in the proposed evaluations related to the electoral reform, after the draft law proposed by the ad-hoc commission.
Kryeziu said that for more than a decade, electoral reform has remained hostage to political will. According to him, this draft law will be processed in the Assembly with accelerated procedures, although there is no rush for such a thing to happen.
“From what we have information, it is attempted to be put on the agenda with accelerated procedures. The law which has come to the parliament has also received the support of the government, despite the fact that the government has not been able to provide a financial cost for the cost of this law and the amendments or the new Law on general elections in Kosovo, there is no financial cost despite the impacts it may have on the organization of the elections or the tripling of the cost that may reach from the previous elections. This law contains several elements, which we believe seriously threaten electoral integrity and are an alarm not only for civil society, but also for the actors involved in this process that we call on the institutions and leaders of political parties not to proceed with this format of this law, without signing a debate and analysis”, stated Kryeziu.
Kryeziu added that the Electoral Reform Commission started its work in an open manner, but at the end of the process it was closed to civil society.
Furthermore, Kryeziu added that with this bill there will be no reform, but electoral regression. He also spoke about the legal suitability of the candidates, where he emphasized that persons accused of corrupt acts are allowed to compete in the elections.
“We think that the law and the commission and parliament of Kosovo should refer to this article (Article 22 of the Code of Criminal Procedure) for the eligibility of candidates to participate in the elections. Because effective prison sentences and effective prison terms of 1 year or 12 months or more, we potentially risk having candidates who have been convicted, either with other penalties such as fines or probation, or even with 11 months for corruption offenses and have the opportunity to be included in the electoral lists. And this is not a value and does not meet the standards of values for the democratization of political parties, nor for the level of democracy in Kosovo… In the past years, if we include the year 2021 and 2022, over 200 cases accused of corrupt acts of public servants , 60 percent of them today are sentenced to a fine or conditional sentence and this enables them to participate in the election race”, added Kryeziu.
In the presentation of these evaluations of the KDI, Eugen Cakolli also spoke about the increase of the preferential vote for candidates, where he requested that it be reduced to only three candidates.
“This change, which is agreed by the parliamentary political parties, has been evaluated by them as contributing to increasing representation and easing the tensions and pressures that exist within the political entities, as a result of the fierce competition between the different branches of the political parties. We appreciate that this change in fact does not contribute at all to the increase of competition between candidates of the same political entity, but simply constitutes a shift of those pressures and clashes that exist within political parties to voters who have to face multiple demands and with doubling of requests from politicians to vote for the same. The increase of the preferential vote for 10 candidates does not even enable better administration of the election process”, continued Cakolli before the journalists.
Also, Cakolli emphasized that with the increase of the preferential vote, manipulation by the commissioners becomes possible. He emphasized that the proposed changes are the possibility of dismissing the chairman or members of this institution with the proposal of 2/3 of the composition of the CEC. According to Cakolli, this enables the politicization of mandates and the frequent dismissal of the chairman or members of the Central Election Commission.
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