Democracy in Action (DnV), through its observers stationed at polling centers across Kosovo, has reported that citizens are being allowed to vote using invalid (expired) identification documents.
This phenomenon has been most evident in the municipalities of Prizren and Gjakova.
At a press conference, Eugen Cakolli said that so far there have been no serious irregularities that could have affected the overall conduct of the electoral process.
“It has been reported that there have been no serious irregularities that could affect the conduct of the process. However, some of the main shortcomings, which are procedural in nature, include problems with voters appearing at the wrong polling stations. Despite the short deadlines for organizing the elections, the CEC reported that voters were informed in a timely manner about their polling centers and the possibility of changing them. By midday, difficulties in finding voters’ names on the voter list had been reported in 48 percent of polling stations,” Cakolli said.“As for voting with invalid documents, DnV observers reported isolated cases in 14 percent of polling stations where voters were allowed to vote with expired identification documents, despite the legal requirement that only valid documents may be used. Such cases have been reported particularly in the Prizren region and in Gjakova. As of 12:00 p.m., our observers had reported 12 cases of ballot photographing in 10 polling stations. This trend is approximately the same as in the December 28 elections,” he said.
There were also reports regarding the indelible ink used to mark voters, with many citizens claiming that it could be easily removed from their fingers.
