Sali Vata, who lives in Germany, said that he was prevented from exercising his right to vote. He stated that he has been spending his holidays in his hometown of Suhareka these days and that in the October 12 elections he had voted by mail. However, he considers it unfair that he was not allowed to vote in Kosovo, since, as he says, he is a citizen of this country.
He told KosovaPress that he was unable to cast his vote because he was informed that he was not allowed to do so in Kosovo.
“I am a diaspora member; I have lived and worked in Germany for 32 years. We applied in the first round to vote by mail, and we voted by mail. Now, since Saturday, I’ve been here. The mail returned our ballots before the runoff — we received them on Tuesday. I have my vacation starting Saturday, so I tried to vote here; I’m on the voter list. They sent me to the ‘Bajraktari’ school to vote conditionally. I went there — they called, talked — but they said the system does not allow me to vote. This is a dissatisfaction for us in the diaspora, not just for me as a citizen, but for all citizens abroad. In my case, I lose my vacation just because I applied to vote by mail — that’s one thing. And second, there is no justification that irregularities or double voting could occur,” he told KosovaPress.
He demands that this issue be fixed, since he believes manipulation is impossible.
“You can’t [vote twice], because you have to print the application to register, send it by mail, and it includes your ID number — there’s no way a diaspora member could vote twice, because that would be unconstitutional. Why shouldn’t conditional voting also be allowed? This is an injustice; I feel denied of my legitimate right to participate in state-building and to have this right taken away… Let this serve as an example to correct this catastrophic mistake — because you are a citizen of this country. Why should you be removed from the list? There can’t be manipulation — I am here, no one can vote there on my behalf,” he added.
In Suhareka, over 69,000 citizens have the right to vote, while more than 3,000 are outside Kosovo.
In Suhareka, the runoff race for the local elections is between Bali Muharremaj of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and Ardian Shala of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK).
