a few seconds agoA Long, Expensive, Extent Campaign
Periskopi(9 years ago)
(9 years ago)The 30-day campaign for local elections is estimated to be too long and has some negative effects. Election monitoring estimates that such long, long campaigns are creating negative effects on voters or citizens. While they are also affecting the functioning and work of institutions as well as increasing spending, according to [...]
Given analysts' assessments, election monitors -- 30-day campaign periods -- respectively -- are proving to be exhausting for both voters and candidates and competing parties in the election.
On the basis of the Law for General Elections, it is envisioned that the campaign period for political subjects is 30 days, and that one day before election day ends.
Cutting the length of the campaign from 30 to 15 days is also envisioned in election reforms that began in 2011, but which have remained only on paper and have never been approved by Kosovo's central institutions, says Albert Krasniqi, from the “Democracy in Action”.
A 15-day-long campaign would be enough, whether for general elections or local elections, because it is held in certain municipalities”.
The “Candidates can focus only on their municipalities, while party leaders get involved less, especially in local elections and do not need to hold gatherings in any of Kosovo's 38 municipalities. I consider cutting the campaign would be in the interest of all”, Krasniqi tells Radio Free Europe.
Political analyst Imer Mushkolaj also considers cutting pre-election campaign necessary.
He says that for a small country, such as Kosovo, a period of 10 days would be sufficient for political subjects to present their vows.
“We can imagine the situation where the same citizens, in similar locations, are given similar promises and vows two or three times during this 30-day period of campaign”, Mushkolaj tells Radio Free Europe.
He says, meanwhile, that the pre-election campaign has also affected the slow down of work and the functioning of government institutions, especially of the Kosovo Assembly. A considerable number of current Kosovo Assembly deputies and government ministers are running for mayors, so their focus is focused on campaigning, bypassing work at the central level.
“over this period Kosovo's Assembly has been collected only once and driven by mainly international pressure and has not been collected in”.
“While expecting many laws to be adopted and many important decisions made. Because most of the deputies, including the Speaker of the Parliament, are in the campaign and in the face of extremely long campaign, we have the stagnation of functioning of the” institutions, Mushkolaj estimates.
To eliminate the effects of pre-election campaigns on the functioning of central institutions, it is believed that legal bases must be regulated so that MPs and ministers can be prevented from participating in different positions at the local level.
A better clarification of the legal provisions where ministers should not be allowed to be candidates for municipal assembly, Albert Krasniqi says.
However, the pre-election campaign so far is considered calm, without any incident that could affect the course of the process. But, according to Albert Krasniqi, during this period there is greater spending of financial means than competent authorities allow, up to 800 thousand euros for a political subject.
