8 years ago Kosovo held first elections as independent state

On November 15th 2009, Kosovo citizens have turned to ballot boxes to participate in the first elections after declaring independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008.

The 15 November elections are generally praised as free and fair with a considerable number of irregularities.

But International Election Observation Mission chief Darko Aleksov in Kosovo at the time, during the presentation of the observer's preliminary report, had said a number of irregularities had also been observed. The widespread acceptance of the family voting that has been monitored, not only is it against the law, but it poses a serious violation of the important principle of the secret of voting”, Aleksov said,

In these elections, the Democratic Party of Kosovo had won in ten municipalities, the Democratic League of Kosovo in five, while the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo in three municipalities.

Officially, the first free elections in Kosovo are those on October 28, 2000, only a year after the war. But, although under the terms of the Serbian depression, Kosovo Albanians voted for the first time for their elected in 1992.

Even in the absence of freedom and a legislature, Kosovo elected its deputies in those difficult years and what was recognised as “the government in Exeil”. /