Over 80 thousand votes suspected of manipulation show what recounting of votes so far

While the recount of early December elections is continuing throughout Kosovo and has already reached half the way, allegations and investigations of vote manipulation are being expanded simultaneously in other parts of the country.

The Central Election Commission announced on Saturday that over 55 per cent of the vote has been re-counted at 2.557 seats nationwide.

The recount began on January 13th, initially in part, as the commission had found inconsistencies in votes for the Kosovo Parliament's parliamentary candidates.

But when differences in the votes were confirmed and allegations growing, law enforcement authorities began to take measures.

On Sunday, the Constitutional Court in Prizren ordered a month of detention for 23 suspects in a series of criminal acts related to misuse of votes, two days after over 100 people were arrested in the region.

From the recounting of votes to over half the polling so far, about 80 thousand candidates' votes have resulted in incorrect and miscounted at the Community Counting Centres, according to Eugen Cacolit from nongovernmental organisations, the Kosovo Democratic Institute.

Their “, following the recount, 47,619 votes were lifted from candidates (because they were added during their initial count), while 32,018 votes were added to candidates after the recount (because they were unfairly removed)”, Cakolli wrote on Facebook on Friday.

According to him, out of about 80,000 votes affected, approximately 40,000 belong to the candidates of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK), about 15,000 the ruling Vetevendosje Movement (LVV), about 11,000 Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and about 4,000 Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK).

Over 80 percent of these votes come only from the Prizren municipality, while the rest from Maliseva and Podujevo (in the latter have been recounted only 10 per cent of the vote), Cakuli added.

The recounting thus far also brought action by authorities for law enforcement in the country, as in addition to Prizren, they have expanded investigations into Ferizaj and Malisheva as well.

In recent days, prosecutors at Ferizaj and Gjakova authorised police to take all actions, including identifying responsible persons, collecting data and securing evidence in Ferizaj and Malisheva, over allegations of vote manipulation.

Authorities carried out an action Friday in Prizren, the municipality where they allegedly had mostly misuse of votes, preventing 109 suspects.

Two days later, the court accepted the prosecutors' request to send 22 commissioners and a December 28th election observer into custody.

The court said on Sunday that they are suspected of several criminal acts, including against voting rights, rowing, bribery and bribery.

Two days ago, the chief prosecutor of the Constitutional Prosecutor in Prizren, Petrit Kryeziu, said that among those arrested in Prizren there were family members of candidates for MPs.

According to Kryeziu, such manipulation of the vote has not been possible without a compromise among commissioners of the four largest political parties.

“We are talking about the Prizren municipality that has added nothing short of 40.497 votes and were removed nothing short of 27.520 votes. So the total abuse gap is 68.017 votes”, Kryeziu said.

While most leaders of the major parties had reacted shortly after allegations of misuse of votes appeared weeks ago, incumbent Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, also leader of the ruling party, reacted on Saturday.

Kurti called for comprehensive investigation and punishment for persons suspected of manipulation of votes within political parties.

Kurti é, who was previously criticised for his failure to respond, said on Facebook on Saturday that <x0-commissionors and individuals, who are thereby involved in vote manipulations within political subjects, damaging colleagues and political subjects, have no amnesty”.

Earlier, the chairman of The PDK, Bedri Hamza, had described the recount as the necessary and fair <x0-step” for protecting the integrity of the election process.

LDK and AAK leaders Lumir Abdixhiku and Ramush Haradinaj had also called earlier for full recounting, stressing that only thus could the legitimacy of the results be guaranteed.

Meanwhile, even most of the candidates for MPs who were mostly voted out during the recount have denied having been involved in misusing and have said they condemn this phenomenon.

In Kosovo vote manipulation is a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment, rel.

Lately, however, the nongovernmental organisation, COHU, published a research that showed that over 90 percent of the cases for election manipulation end with parole sentences or fines.

Central Election Commission officials recounting votes from the December 28th early parliamentary elections Monday, January 19th in Pristina.