SETimes.comKosovo election commission chief: transparency will be ensured
11/11/2009
Sunday's elections in Kosovo face several challenges. However, the new head of the Central Election Commission says the vote will be impartial and transparent.
By Besa Beqiri for Southeast European Times in Pristina -- 11/11/09
On Sunday (November 15th), Kosovo will hold its first local elections since becoming an independent country. Before the February 2008 unilateral declaration of independence, the OSCE was running the election process and certifying results for the Serbian province. Elections in the country will now be overseen by a Central Election Commission (CEC), led by Nesrin Lushta. She was appointed by President Fatmir Sejdiu in May.
The commission has put together a list that includes 1.6 million registered voters in 36 municipalities. There will be 2,256 polling stations.
Southeast European Times: The upcoming elections are the first to be conducted by the Kosovo authorities. What major challenges are you facing at this point?
Nesrin Lushta: The still not functioning of the Elections Commission for Complaints and Submissions -- an institution independent from the Kosovo Central Election Commission that [makes decisions on] the complaints and the submissions in the electoral process -- the new Kosovo municipalities [and the] late task completion of the Central Election Commission Secretariat are just some of the challenges we are facing at the moment.
SETimes: Were there preparation challenges in some municipalities?
Lushta: Yes. The Central Elections Commission (CEC) made election preparations in all municipalities. However, in September, we were instructed by an inter-ministerial group about which municipalities will [not participate]. For now, [the] elections in Mitrovica North and Partesh municipalities [have been postponed].
SETimes: One of the key issues recently raised is the voters' list. Have you ensured that the voters' list guarantees each citizen the right to vote?
Lushta: Yes. The voters' list is an extract from the Central Civilian Register. In the period immediately after the close of the elections we will tackle any problems and objections to the list. Over 28,000 names of deceased citizens were taken off the list. We have made every effort to ensure that every listed citizen has the right to vote.
SETimes: The CEC will, for the first time, certify the results of the elections. How will you ensure that all involved parties accept the official results?
Lushta: In the same way we implemented the policy on electoral preparatory actions, we will also appropriately implement the policy ensuring the election results. The CEC is not mandated to convince any political party to accept the official election results.
SETimes: Some of the Kosovo opposition parties have expressed doubts over the independence of the CEC as not entirely free from political influence. How would you comment on that?
Lushta: The CEC is an independent institution. Though the members of the CEC were nominated by political parties, they do not represent any party, but are impartial and independent.
SETimes: The opposition was fighting to have the November elections monitored by camera. Do you think that, if approved, it would have impacted the reliability of the election results?
Lushta: Placing the monitoring cameras in the voting centres was not possible to implement. The elections' transparency will be ensured through the composition of the Municipal Electoral Commissions and the Councils of the Voting Centres, with political party representatives in their ranks. The monitoring cameras would not have essentially influenced the reliability of the elections process, but if the insistence on having them continues, then the policy on this should be changed enabling the cameras to monitor the electoral process.