Polling Day

Arianit Omani, CEC spokesperson, told Balkan Insight on Friday that the Commission had put in place everything required for the smooth running of parliamentary and municipal polls.

 
“We are not dealing with any kind of problems, be that organisational, technical or logistical. The polling stations will be awaiting the first voters tomorrow from 7 o’clock [0600 Greenwich Mean Time]”, said Osmani.

Voters will have three ballot papers, as they are electing members of Kosovo’s Assembly, members of the municipal assemblies and, for the first time, they will be voting directly for local mayors.

Since Kosovo came under UN administration in 1999, after NATO’s air strikes led to the withdrawal of Serb troops and authorities, two parliamentary elections have been held in the entity.

Unlike in earlier polls, when Kosovo citizens voted only for party lists, this time they will also have the right to choose directly their members of parliament.

As the voting procedure will be far more complicated than in the previous elections, with triple elections plus lengthy voting lists, it is estimated that citizens will need on average seven to eight minutes each to cast their ballots.

To avoid possible long queues, the CEC and political parties are advising voters to come well-prepared to the polling stations.

The reason for that is that on the ballot paper for the Kosovo Assembly, voters will have to pick 10 numbers corresponding to 10 names from up to 100 on their party’s list of candidates.

CEC officials say the polling stations will this time have more voting booths.

“We will have three or more booths in each polling station and the estimated number for each station is about 720 voters”, said Osmani.

Polling stations will stay open between 0700 and 1900 hours.

“However the polling stations will not close until every citizen who is in a queue at 7 pm has had an opportunity to vote”, said Osmani.

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