As far as diaspora votes impact the new composition of the Assembly

There are 392 packages of votes from the diaspora, which remain important both for the winning election party, Vetevendosje Movement and for the Social Democrat Initiative coalition, the New Kosovo Alliance and the Justice Party.

While for Vetevendosje, these votes could mean 2 or 3 more MPs for the Initiative coalition, the AKR and the DP, diaspora votes, according to observers, have the opposite effect, as with their involvement in the final outcome may be affected on the issue of passing the electoral threshold for this coalition, which currently says it has won six mandates in the future composition of the Kosovo Assembly.

On Sunday, the recounting of votes from 1407 seats ended, but announcing its results and certificates has remained dependent on complaints by political subjects.

Thus, a complaint by the Vetevendosje Movement at the Supreme Court has prompted the Central Election Commission to wait for the decision of this Court before it makes the certificate of final outcome.

The Supreme Court has a 72-hour decision-making term, although this decision may be announced earlier.

The Vetevendosje movement has called for the Supreme Court's assessment and decision to recount 392 packages with paper revenues coming from the diaspora. These ballots at the Central Election Commission have come on November 12th.

In a Vetevendosje Movement report, it is said that the Supreme Court's <x0-wise judgments would have to serve as a sufficient basis for the CEC to make the count of these 392 packages, but after refusing to count and PZAP's refusal to order the CEC, the issue we have addressed to the Supreme Court”.

The right to vote as constitutional and universal right should be protected and respected. While each vote coming to the CEC's address and initiated by registered voters and within the deadline, it must be counted and included in the final score”, the statement said.

The same complaint, the Vetevendosje Movement had addressed it on Sunday as well in the Electoral Panel for Anxiety and Parashta, but the latter had rejected it as groundless.

Even earlier, the Vetevendosje Movement had been addressed to the Supreme Court for the assessment of votes coming from the diaspora after the initial legal deadline, as PZAP had initially rejected the request of this political subject. The Supreme, late in October, had approved Vetevendosje's request and had ordered the CEC to count and bring in about 5 thousand votes coming out of the legal deadline (5 October, 2019) from the outside.

At the Central Election Commission, they say that following confirmation by the Supreme Court that a complaint was filed against the PZAP decision, final results cannot be published at this stage.

The results cannot be published without any confirmation in this case by PZAP and the Supreme Court that they have no case under consideration”, said CEC spokesman Valmir Elesi.

The other issue that could hold this process in limbo concerns the Coalition Social Democrat Initiative's request, the New Kosovo Alliance and the Justice Party. This coalition has sent a complaint to the Constitutional Court, where it disputes the decision of the 30 October Supreme Court, where the Central Election Commission was ordered to count and include in the electoral outcome about 5,000 diaspora votes that had come to Kosovo outside the legal deadline.

In coalition complaint Initiative - AKR-PD, required by the Constitutional Court to assess the constitutionality of this Supreme decision.

Coalition Initiative - The AKR-PD also requires the Constitution to decide for the interim measure, as according to this coalition, the failure to make such a move “could cause irreparable damage and is in public interest”.

Civil society representatives who have monitored the election process in Kosovo consider that the counting and recounting process has lasted, but within legal spaces.

Florent Spahija from the Kosovo Democratic Institute told Radio Free Europe that political subjects have tried to exploit all legal spaces to achieve a better outcome.

“If viewed in the timeframe it has lasted and Kosovo has been able to proceed even faster, in the sense that the CEC and the Counting and Results Centre will increase staff and number of workers and finish the process earlier than it is now”, Spahija said.

Early parliamentary elections are held on 6 October. According to local and international observers, the elections passed smoothly and were in line with democratic standards.

The Vetevendosje Movement has won mostly votes, followed by the Democratic League of Kosovo. These two parties are learning to form the new Government of Kosovo. Representatives of these two parties have said that after the certificate of election results, they will finalise the agreement for the future ruling coalition.

Early parliamentary elections followed Ramush Haradinaj's resignation from the prime minister's post, following the invitation he received from the Special Court in The Hague.