A total of 46,015 Kosovo citizens from 46 different countries around the world have registered to vote by mail in the local elections for mayors and municipal assemblies.

This figure was announced after the registration deadline by the spokesperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC), Valmir Elezi, who told KosovaPress that the final data will be published in the first week of September, at the time of the certification of the voters’ list.

“From July 23 until the deadline on August 29, the CEC electronic platform received 56,778 applications for registration to vote by mail, of which 46,015 were approved, while 10,094 others were rejected,” Elezi said.

He explained that in most rejected cases, applicants had failed to provide one of the documents proving their address outside Kosovo, noting that “the registration process was not exclusive, as every rejected applicant was informed of the reasons for rejection and of the opportunity to re-apply by submitting the required documents.”

According to CEC data, the municipalities with the largest number of registered voters from abroad, each with more than 3,000, are: Suhareka (3,458), Gjakova (3,308), and Dragash (3,066).

Meanwhile, Germany with 21,500 and Switzerland with 11,024 are the countries with the highest number of registered voters by mail from outside Kosovo.

Elezi stated that specific procedures for voting by mail will be published very soon by the CEC, while voting will begin on September 17 and conclude on October 11.

Unlike previous electoral processes, in these elections registered voters will receive from the CEC a package with two ballots — one for the mayoral election and another for the municipal assembly election. According to the CEC, each voter is responsible, after filling out the ballots, for sending the package to one of the CEC mailboxes that will be opened in different countries, with the addresses to be published by the CEC before the start of voting by mail.

The CEC clarified that Kosovo citizens registered to vote from abroad will find their names only on the external voters’ list, as they will be removed from the voters’ list inside Kosovo, which is distributed at polling stations on election day, as required by the Law on General Elections.

Meanwhile, Kosovo citizens living abroad who did not register to vote by mail will remain on the internal voters’ list in Kosovo, which is distributed at polling stations on election day. Information on the address of the Polling Center can be found here: https://qv.kqz-ks.org