For the first time, the Central Election Commission (CEC) has taken on the task of sending registered voters abroad voting packages by mail so they can participate in the Local Elections, as reported by ​KosovaPress.

This service is expected to cover 43,933 citizens of Kosovo who applied and registered to vote by mail in the elections for Mayors of Municipalities and Municipal Assemblies.

CEC spokesperson Valmir Elezi explained to KosovaPress that the process of sending out ballot packages is ongoing, while voting by mail from abroad officially began on September 17. So far, more than 15,000 individual ballot packages have been sent outside Kosovo, with thousands more expected to be delivered by the end of this week.

“CEC aims to complete the process within this week of sending ballot packages to about 44,000 registered voters outside Kosovo so they can vote by mail in the local elections. This is the first time that the CEC has taken upon itself the responsibility to send, by mail, a package with two ballots to citizens who register to vote by mail: one ballot for the mayoral elections and one for the municipal assembly elections,” said Elezi.

According to Elezi, although voters abroad did not yet have their ballot packages at the start of the voting period, the remaining timeframe of more than 20 days is sufficient, since the CEC has opened postal boxes in dozens of different countries around the world.

“We assess that the timeframe set by the CEC for voting from abroad by mail is sufficient. There are more than 20 days available to Kosovo citizens—that is, to voters—to send their ballot package to any of the mailboxes that the CEC has opened in 23 different countries, including Kosovo,” Elezi stated.

At yesterday’s meeting of the Central Election Commission, it was mentioned that so far about 34% of the ballot papers have already been processed.