The Central Election Commission (CEC) has accredited the fifth group of 169 observers for Sunday’s elections on December 28.
The total number of observers accredited by the CEC so far is over 19,000, including certified political parties, local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international organizations, local and international media, state institutions, and diplomatic missions.
The Director of the Office for Registration, Certification, and Financial Control of Political Subjects, Besnik Buzhala, requested that a local organization not be accredited, arguing that it did not meet the legal criteria.
He stated that the statute of this organization is not directly related to monitoring electoral processes.
“The NGO ‘Institute for Good Governance and Rule of Law’ applied to be accredited as an observer organization for the elections held on December 28, 2025. The Office reviewed all documentation and found that the statute of this organization, in terms of its purpose and scope, is not directly related to monitoring electoral processes or protecting human rights, as required under Article 54 for general elections. Therefore, the legal criteria for accreditation as an electoral observer organization were not met. Accordingly, the Office recommends that the CEC reject the accreditation request of the NGO ‘Institute for Good Governance and Rule of Law,’” he said.
This request was considered unusual by Alliance for the Future of Kosovo member Muharrem Nitaj.
“It seems abnormal to me that a hand is raised for non-accreditation if the proposal of the secretariat is to not accredit, and we approve the secretariat’s proposal. That is, we approve the proposal for non-accreditation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Alban Krasniqi, a member of the Vetëvendosje Movement, emphasized that it is necessary to review the regulation.
“Immediately after this election process, the regulation should be reviewed. We achieved an important action when we removed the Hunters’ Associations because they had also applied to observe the elections. In this case, I see organizations, which we know and, regardless of our views, are part of our society and contribute to democracy, helping us with information. But organizations that are somewhat fictitious, appearing only during elections and having no activity outside of that, are a problem. There is a risk that they could be filled with observers with a political or partisan background who come just to conduct election observation,” he said.
In the same meeting, the international organization “Odbor za kontrolu i opservaciju – OKO” was also not accredited for observation.
