For the second round of municipal mayoral elections, expected to be held on 9 November, there will be no new voter registration process for citizens outside Kosovo. In the second round of local elections, for the municipalities where these elections will take place, voting from abroad by mail will be organized only for citizens who registered from 23 July to 29 August, reports KosovaPress.
According to preliminary data, the second round of mayoral elections will be held in 18 municipalities, while the number of voters abroad who belong only to these municipalities is 29,712.
The spokesperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC), Valmir Elezi, said to KosovaPress that this is an issue regulated by the CEC Election Regulation for registration and voting outside Kosovo.
“In the second round of municipal mayoral elections, only voters who successfully registered during the application period for the first round and only for the municipalities where the second round will be held will have the right to vote from abroad. No new period will be opened for voter registration abroad, as the same previously approved voter list will be used. The total number of citizens registered to vote from outside Kosovo in the first round is 43,933. From this number, voters registered in the municipalities where there will not be a second round will be subtracted,” he said.
Even for the second round, Elezi said that the CEC will ensure that voters registered outside Kosovo receive their mail-in ballot packages.
“As in the first round, also this time, the CEC will ensure that Kosovar citizens who are already registered to vote by mail from outside the country receive their ballot package by mail. This cost will be covered by the CEC. Meanwhile, it is the voter’s responsibility to send the ballot package to one of the mailboxes opened in 22 different countries around the world and in Kosovo,” Elezi said.
According to the CEC, mailboxes are operational in these countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Canada, Kosovo, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, United Kingdom, Norway, USA, Albania, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, and Switzerland. So far, according to preliminary results, the second round of elections will be organized in 18 municipalities, which have different numbers of voters outside Kosovo registered for mail-in voting: Gjakovë (3,150), Gjilan (2,066), Dragash (2,776), Kaçanik (1,149), Klinë (2,229), Fushë Kosovë (490), Mitrovicë e Jugut (1,186), Obiliq (221), Rahovec (1,902), Pejë (1,897), Prishtinë (1,715), Prizren (2,866), Suharekë (3,325), Viti (1,980), Vushtrri (1,020), Junik (1,344), Mamushë (357) and Kllokot (39).
