Serbia is breaking its own laws to conduct elections in Kosovo

The Republic Electoral Commission (REC) of Serbia adopted a method for the presidential elections in Kosovo on Wednesday that allows ballots to be counted outside of polling stations, namely in the towns of Vranje and Raska, which contradicts Serbian law. Voting will take place on 2nd of April.

Representatives of the opposition argue that the decision of the Constitutional Court in 2016 states that counting ballots outside of polling stations is against the law. Members of the REC who represent the ruling parties stated that without applying this method, voting in Kosovo is impossible. Opposition representatives lost the vote 15 to 13 and the method was adopted.

Ivan Ninic, a representative of the opposition movement “Enough is Enough” in the REC, told Insajder that this method contradicts both Serbian law and the Constitutional Court decision ruling the counting of ballots outside of polling stations illegal.

“Ruling parties will again transport ballots outside of the territory of Kosovo and this decision is justified in terms of security concerns and based on the report of the Serbian Office for Kosovo and Metohija that was given to the REC. However, nobody has seen that report and we still do not have an explanation of what those security concerns are”, Ninic told Insajder.

The practice of taking ballots outside of polling stations started in 2012 during the presidential and parliamentary elections, and it was repeated in the parliamentary elections in 2014 and 2016. This model was used to overcome the “situation” after Kosovo declared unilateral independence in 2008, after which numerous polling stations were closed.

According to the REC, this practice will be repeated again in this year’s presidential elections.

The president of the REC, Vladimir Dimitrijevic, said in a written statement that the method is not unprecedent and that the decision of the Constitutional Court was taken into consideration during the decision making process.

“The REC strives to ensure that all Serbian citizens living in Kosovo are allowed their Constitutional right to vote. Furthermore, since May 2012, all electoral processes in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija are conducted with the direct support and supervision of the OSCE”, stated Dimitrijevic.

Discrimination of Groups of citizens and non-parliamentary parties

In the REC manual, the electoral committee in Kosovo and Metohija that will monitor the voting process will be comprised of three members, who can only be put in this role on the suggestion of the parliamentary parties.

Candidates that are not supported by the parliamentary parties cannot give their proposals for the election commitee, despite the fact that this is not the case in all other municipalities and towns in Serbia.

Representatives of the oposition also claim that since there is a certain procedure concerning the transport of the ballots, which is time consuming, records from these polling stations will not be available to all presidential candidates within the required 24 hours. All notes and ballots from the electoral process must be received within 24 hours or they will not be considered, according to the Serbian law on voting.

„Presidential candidates and their teams are prevented from controlling polling stations and the transport of the ballots to Vranje and Raska where the votes will be counted“, according to a written statement from the Democratic Party of Serbia.

The president of the REC, Dimitrijevic, replied to critics with the remark that there is no „reason for the opposition to doubt the legitimicy of the elections in Kosovo And Metohija.“

He said that the REC made the decision that ruling coalition parties can have only one representative in the election committees, whilst parliamentary oposition will have two members in the committees in Kosovo and Metohija. Dimitrijevic also said that representatives from the OSCE will be present at every polling station in Kosovo.

Sasa Dragojlo