se times
24/11/2010
Many viewed Sunday's vote as a gauge of party popularity ahead of snap elections, while monitoring organisations say they saw few improvements.
By Muhamet Brajshori for Southeast European Times in Pristina -- 24/11/10
Many viewed Sunday's vote as a gauge of party popularity ahead of snap elections, while monitoring organisations say they saw few improvements.
By Muhamet Brajshori for Southeast European Times in Pristina -- 24/11/10
Voters in Orahovac (Rahovec) headed to the polls Sunday (November 21st) to elect a new mayor after the Constitutional Court ruled that the resignation of former Mayor Qazim Qeska is binding. However, the vote did not result in a clear winner.
Preliminary results, not officially confirmed by election officials, suggest that Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) candidate Ibrahim Kryeziu will face Smajl Latifi of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) in a run-off on December 19th.
However, Latifi is still battling for the spot against the Kosovo Democratic Party's (PDK) candidate, Xhelal Canziba, as the votes are counted.
Trailing behind the top three were Rexhep Oruqi of the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) and Luljeta Kadiri of the Democratic Party of Dardania (LDD).
The decision to hold the extraordinary election came after the PDK's Qeska resigned for personal reasons in July, and then later said he wished to return to his post. Then-President Fatmir Sejdiu asked the Constitutional Court for its opinion.
Sunday's election was important for the parties, not just because of the mayoral post, but also because it served to test support ahead of the December 12th general elections.
The vote was also of interest to NGOs, who say they saw little evidence that shortcomings in the election process have been overcome.
"The process should have demonstrated that political parties are taking the issue seriously, but we do not see any improvement and it's the same situation as in 2009," Ismet Kryeziu, the head of Democracy in Action, told SETimes.
"Our concern is the presence of a high number of political parties' observers, more than 60 in the village," Kryeziu said, explaining that voters felt pressured as a result. In addition, he said, there were clear cases of fraud.
"In one voting centre, we had a case when a person voted more than 12 times," Kryeziu said.
Democracy in Action says it has identified 23 cases of family voting in one constituency, but those allegations have not been confirmed by Kosovo's election commission.
Preliminary results, not officially confirmed by election officials, suggest that Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) candidate Ibrahim Kryeziu will face Smajl Latifi of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) in a run-off on December 19th.
However, Latifi is still battling for the spot against the Kosovo Democratic Party's (PDK) candidate, Xhelal Canziba, as the votes are counted.
Trailing behind the top three were Rexhep Oruqi of the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) and Luljeta Kadiri of the Democratic Party of Dardania (LDD).
The decision to hold the extraordinary election came after the PDK's Qeska resigned for personal reasons in July, and then later said he wished to return to his post. Then-President Fatmir Sejdiu asked the Constitutional Court for its opinion.
Sunday's election was important for the parties, not just because of the mayoral post, but also because it served to test support ahead of the December 12th general elections.
The vote was also of interest to NGOs, who say they saw little evidence that shortcomings in the election process have been overcome.
"The process should have demonstrated that political parties are taking the issue seriously, but we do not see any improvement and it's the same situation as in 2009," Ismet Kryeziu, the head of Democracy in Action, told SETimes.
"Our concern is the presence of a high number of political parties' observers, more than 60 in the village," Kryeziu said, explaining that voters felt pressured as a result. In addition, he said, there were clear cases of fraud.
"In one voting centre, we had a case when a person voted more than 12 times," Kryeziu said.
Democracy in Action says it has identified 23 cases of family voting in one constituency, but those allegations have not been confirmed by Kosovo's election commission.
The five political parties that participated in the vote -- PDK, LDK, AAK, AKR and LDD – are accusing each other of responsibility for the incidents.
According to the AAK, senior PDK officials were in Orahovac on Sunday pressuring voters. The AKR says photos of the PDK candidate were visible in some cars, violating election laws. The PDK has rejected the accusations.
One analyst, Mufail Limani, says the results of Sunday's election will not affect the upcoming December vote. The Orahovac elections, he says, were more a mirror of the Constitutional Court decision on the mayor.
Voter turnout was 40.5% -- 5% less than the municipality's mayoral vote last year.
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.
According to the AAK, senior PDK officials were in Orahovac on Sunday pressuring voters. The AKR says photos of the PDK candidate were visible in some cars, violating election laws. The PDK has rejected the accusations.
One analyst, Mufail Limani, says the results of Sunday's election will not affect the upcoming December vote. The Orahovac elections, he says, were more a mirror of the Constitutional Court decision on the mayor.
Voter turnout was 40.5% -- 5% less than the municipality's mayoral vote last year.
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.
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