Former Mayor Hasani: Supreme Court Can Decide Total Recount

In an interview for Kosovo Press, Hasani says even the votes for the initiative of Adriana Hodzic and the Roma Initiative in Serb majority settlements are legitimate. He says this issue is constitutional and not legal violations.

“To my conviction, if eventually the complainers, all those who have addressed complaints to the Supreme Court, who support their claims of abuse at the QNR, will certainly do it (decide to total recount). I always speak if they've offered arguments that happened in these counting centers. If there is evidence, all of them must be recounted to avoid and remove the dilemmas even in the opinion that at the Counting and Results Centre, manipulations have been made with candidates' votes, where votes are held by each other. Even this is coming out, you've seen that only with a candidate changed the ranking issue because of the vote. For me mistakes are human, there is no purpose out of the possibility of a vote being counted by a candidate”, he says.

Hasani says the orientation of votes, as has happened in Serb majority settlements, is within the framework of the legal stands. The same, according to him, happens even during municipal-level elections, where candidates of certain parties' run-off direct the vote for one of two mayoral contenders.

Such a vote with the votes of reserved communities has created a dangerous precedent that could turn boomerang to one who has built this way of voting. But to me, my obedience, everything is within the Law (for choice). Since the vote's right is absolute right, anyone who casts the vote in the box to vote for anyone he wants. We know they've been reorient about who they should vote on, but that's also part of the legitimacy of the political subject that to develop campaigns, to instruct voters about which candidate they should vote for. Legally, political subjects have the right to campaign and direct the electorate to vote on. She too is within the law. You can't say violation of the law if someone says vote this candidate. It is their right, you know, in local elections, when two-three mayoral candidates compete and in the runoff other parties go out openly, say support this candidate. So legally, it's problematic”, Hasani declares.

However, constitutionally, Hasani says the rights of Bosniak and Roma communities in Kosovo have been violated.

In the constitutional aspect, it is true that community rights have been violated. Why, because Article 43 of the Constitution says the Republic of Kosovo has the legal obligation to build mechanisms to enable communities to protect, advance and their rights. In this case, it has failed in the sense that it has not built mechanisms to assure them that these 10 deputies that are constitutionally reserved for them to be exactly representing their interests”, he says.

Regarding prosecution for possible voter abusers in the QNR, Hasani says the Criminal Code covers enough to punish each from election day until the moment the results are certified.

Anyone who abuses should be prosecuted. We have expanded the scope of criminal acts during changes to laws because phenomena have been presented in the election process. First there were 5-6 works, now there's 11 of them. So there is no area or field that is not covered. Someone said they prosecuted only on election day. Since the election process begins and until the results are certified in a criminal way, everything is sanctioned if” is abused, Hasani claims.

A large number of complaints during yesterday have been addressed to the Supreme Court, primarily candidate for MPs who have sought recounting the vote, as they claim there have been irregularities in their count. In addition, complaints have delivered the Bosnian community's initiative of Adriana Hodzic over the annulment of votes in Serb settlements.

While the complaint to the Supreme has delivered two former allies from Bosniak and Roma communities. Duda Balje and Veton Berisha demanded the annulment of votes in all Serb majority municipalities for Hodzic and Roma initiatives.