First Failures in Election Campaign Marked

Although only six days of campaigning for local elections have passed, the first complaints were filed against participating political parties for violations of the code of courtesy.

Director of the Election Panel for Anxiety and Parastance say complaints were filed by political subjects and nongovernmental organisations monitoring the election campaign.

Mul Descu, head of the Electoral Panel for Ances and Paraseta (PZAP) Secretariat, told Radio Free Europe that 46 complaints have been filed so far, some of which have been approved, while others are in the process of review.

A total of 28 complaints have been filed, 24 complaints have been approved, 4 rejected, and 18 complaints are in the screening procedure”, Descu says.

The largest number of complaints, according to Descu, have been filed against the Democratic League of Kosovo, in all 22 complaints, while 9 have been filed against the Democratic Party of Kosovo.

The nature of complaints filed at PZAP are different, but according to Descu, the establishment of propaganda materials in public spaces and which is prohibited by law is dominated.

Representatives of nongovernmental organisations dealing with monitoring of the election campaign also claim that the largest number of complaints has to do with deploying positions in public spaces.

Albert Krasniqi, from the “Democracy coalition in Action”, told Radio Free Europe that so far, this coalition has addressed 25 complaints in PZAP. He estimates that during this time no major violations of the code of courtesy have been recorded. According to him, updating activities are not so intense and large gatherings have not been held, but mostly are visits to citizens.

When other violations are slightly smaller, compared to the past, or something we can't identify is the use of official cars. In this regard we are having some difficulty identifying, because many official cars have changed registration plates from official to civilian. We're having trouble identifying and presenting at PZAP. The language of hatred is less present. There are children's uses in the campaign, but not largely”, Krasniqi said.

On the other hand, Mul Descu says that for the complaints filed, P ZAP imposes fines depending on the type of violation of the code of courtesy.

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The election campaign for the 22 October local elections will last until 20 October. On 21 October, it will be electoral silence. While, local elections in 38 Kosovo municipalities will be held on October 22nd. As a result, new mayors and councillors will be elected at municipal assemblies.

The Central Election Commission has certified 91 political subjects for participation in local elections, out of them 1 coalition, 35 political parties, 30 civic initiatives and 25 independent candidates (if for mayor or councilary in municipal municipalities).