Election abuses, lead cases of photography, misuse of vote

Many locations went to recount because of irregularities and manipulations with forms. Those arrested are mainly accused of photographing the vote and misusing the right to vote, but there are also cases of misuse of official office.

This is also said by the Kosovo Institute for Justice (IKD).

Gzim Shala from this Institute said that only on Election Day were 20 people arrested, 7 of them in the Pec municipality.

“As far as the process is concerned after the results started to be counted here have been seen a series of manipulations and suspicions that have been made public, in terms of the state prosecutor's engagement on election day on this day we have had a total of 20 people arrested at the order of the state prosecutor, where the largest number have been in the Pec municipality respectively. The characteristic is that two people in the municipality of Mitrovica who are accused of misusing official duty and all other detainees are mainly for photographing and misusing voting rights in view of even several cases which are for obstructing the voting process”.

The IKD during monitoring at the Gjakova Foundation Court showed that four cases involving elections have been addressed. According to Shala, two of them are in regular process.

“From monitoring we have seen that at the basic court in Gjakova four cases involving recent elections and those cases have been handled according to legal reports. Two of these cases are in regular judicial process under legal terms until two of these cases have ended in a period according to legal terms, we have two legal convictions that the parties have pleaded guilty to”. Shala added it is necessary to become electoral reform until he said the justice system should be focused on handling cases. “It is necessary to initially bring about electoral reform by political parties and demonstrate the will to proceed further with electoral reform in order to eliminate all problems that have occurred in the past. The second is for the State Prosecutor and the justice system to be more focused on the time before elections and after elections so that fighting these phenomena is as comprehensive as”.

But another fact is that the treatment of cases from the justice system, the late training of these cases, and the very meaning of prosecution and judgment of criminal acts, until even punishment policy in those cases has been largely conditional, and punishment policy should be in full accordance with the Supreme Court's guide to penal policy in order to prevent other people from carrying out this phenomenon, and the moment we put this three aspects together then we will have a comprehensive mirror to prevent all phenomena from being avoided, he added, eO.

While lawyer Tome Gashi for Online Economy said cases of violations of electoral rules are prosecuted as fair cases and rarely anyone is arrested or detained on such issues and why there are bans for a period of time.

Even in the most democratic states in the world during the general elections, there are cases of legal violations in election procedures. I believe that even in Kosovo this has happened, but not in large measure, and it is certainly a matter of police, but also the Kosovo Prosecutor to identify people who have committed violations during the election phase in Kosovo and certainly will bring charges against them, but I believe that it is not yet an announcement that we may have been charged, and so far we have not known the number of those suspected. I believe these go as regular procedures and rarely someone is arrested or detained on such issues and why there are bans for a period of time”.

Gashi believes that very soon cases and persons who have violated election rules will be made public. However, it says the number cannot be large compared to previous years.

This is a matter of days and weeks so that these numbers can be made public as to how many have violated election rules in Kosovo. It is not a frightening or large number that we previously had an extremely large number or that we had major violations that have been identified, and for that reason the State Prosecutor has appointed a co-ordinator who has been dealing with such issues and the time of the end or recent elections we have had extremely capable prosecutors who, along with Kosovo police, have always been identified as breaking rules”, Gashi told Online Economy.