The coalition of organizations for election observation “Democracy in Action” will monitor Kosovo’s June 7 elections through a domestic observation mission that will cover the key components of the electoral process.
Eugen Cakolli announced at a press conference that the organization will also monitor problematic content in the digital sphere, including disinformation, fake news, hate speech, and manipulative content.
“The coalition of domestic election monitoring organizations, Democracy in Action, will be present in observing the parliamentary elections on June 7 through a domestic observation mission that will cover all key components of the electoral process, including disinformation and other problematic content in the digital sphere. In this regard, Democracy in Action will monitor hate speech, cases of disinformation, fake news, manipulative content, and other key communication trends,” Cakolli said.
Their monitoring will also include election news coverage, political debates, and candidates’ Facebook pages, adding that a total of 550 observers will be deployed in the field across all municipalities of the country.
“Our monitoring will include all election-related news segments within main news bulletins, television debates held during prime time, as well as the assessment of airtime allocated to candidates running in the elections. Furthermore, official Facebook pages of prime ministerial candidates and political parties will also be monitored, focusing on types of posts, promotion of parliamentary candidates, and other similar trends. In addition, there will be 550 field observers distributed across all municipalities,” he added.
Among other things, DnV will process data on polling station opening procedures, the voting process, voter turnout, possible incidents, and the results for political entities. According to Cakolli, on election day an operational center will function, including a data center, media center, and call center to process information received from the field.
Cakolli stressed that one of the new roles DnV will have in these elections is monitoring the vote-counting process in municipal counting centers.
The organization’s representative said that the pre-election environment has been dynamic with political parties and their candidates.
Today, the election campaign for the June 7 elections has officially begun, with most political entities launching their campaigns.
