Chocolate: We've held two choices in pandemic time, why do you push them?

Cakolli has said that Kosovo has held two sets of elections in time of pandemic and that this is not a problem, but according to him, the problem is holding the election campaign.

Today, the situation is quite different. We know the virus better, we know how to protect ourselves from it and we have vaccines, and we have protocols for holding elections. No one's pushing the elections because of our pandemic, and we don't have to be alone anymore.

We've held two sets of choices in pandemic time. The experience from them shows that the increase in cases has been due to election day.”, he has written, the Periscope broadcast.

His full post:

Why postpone the elections?

When the decision was made in March 2020 to postpone elections in Podujevo and then in northern Mitrovica, it was because we did not know the virus, nor did we know how to protect ourselves from it, nor did we have protocols for holding elections in pandemic times. At that time we were even in the midst of dozens of countries that had postponed the elections because of the pandemic.

Today, the situation is quite different. We know the virus better, we know how to protect ourselves from it and we have vaccines, and we have protocols for holding elections. No one's pushing the elections because of our pandemic, and we don't have to be alone anymore.

We've held two sets of choices in pandemic time. Experiences from them indicate that the increase in cases is very unlikely because of election day.

Election day has had relatively satisfactory respect for the measures, both by commissioners and voters. Even for the few cases of disrespect, there are solutions. Solutions are the most frequent and rigorous checks by the respective institutions.

We can minimize the risk even more if, if we assume, it is decided that no one can be part of the election staff (particularly commissioners) if it is not vaccinated. The adequate mask kiss for voters in all the voting stations should be mandatory.

The problem has been and it is campaigning, regardless of the duration. Not of the campaign as such, but of the types of activities that were organised by the very political subjects, attended by the huge number of citizens, without respect for any measure.

Therefore, postponing elections should not be an option at all. Not only because of the numerous legal complications he would have had such a decision in relation to the mandate of local institutions.

Instead of delaying elections or cutting the campaign period, it should limit the type of campaign akissities, preventing large numbers of citizens from gathering, or stopping them altogether. Because they present the main problem. More television debates are needed, and campaigns are directed on social networks and other electronic communication platforms.