In the north, still no polling station

Ten days before holding extraordinary elections in four Serb-run municipalities in northern Kosovo, the Central Election Commission (KQZ) has not yet approved the polling stations list.

So far, it has been voted in schools, but this time the chances for this are almost non-existenceal because they are controlled by the Serbian system in the north, which opposes the elections. Alternative centres, as well as police stations, are also cited as possible locations that could be turned into polling stations.

The failure to set up polling stations raises doubts that electoral activity can be held, said former CEC chief executive chief Adnan Merovci, and representative of the nongovernmental organisation Democracy in Action (DnV), Eugen Cakoli.

On 23 April, extraordinary elections for mayors of northern Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposaviqi are expected to be held, as well as early elections for the two municipal municipalities in Zvecan and Leposaviq.

The election decision was made after the mayors, along with other Serbs, resigned on November 5th last year, in sign of opposition to the Kosovo government's decision to launch the process of reregistering Serbian vehicles with illegal license plates.

These elections were meant to be held on December 18th last year, but Kosovo institutions were forced to cancel them because groups of citizens there caused incidents during the preparation phase.

Adnan Merovci finds the organisation of free and democratic elections in northern Kosovo difficult if the political situation is taken into account.

The political situation in that part of the state is fragile, and according to him, has been unable to have responsible institutions end technical procedures in time for election organisation.

“If the situation in the north is such, which still seats have not been set, the technical aspect has not yet been taken in the hands of what are called commissioners, decision leaders, I am skeptical ...”, he tells Rel.

Eugen Cacol from Democracy to Action says that in order to hold these elections, the CEC will soon have to publish the location of polling stations in order to inform voters where they can vote.

This process, according to him, has had to be completed 45 days before holding elections.

“The most important is publishing polling stations. It is still not known which ones will be used for the purpose of holding the voting process. Numerous modalities have been cited, such as alternative centres or voting in police stations, and yet another”, he says. / REL