PRISTINA – More than a month after Kosovo’s snap parliamentary elections were held, the Central Election Commission (CEC) has officially confirmed the final results. This marks the second time CEC has certified the results, after initially failing to publish the outcome for the Serb List (SL), which it was subsequently ordered to do by the Electoral Complaints and Appeals Panel, KoSSev reports.
According to the CEC, the results was confirmed for 24 political entities and their candidates.
The Vetëvendosje Movement won the most votes, securing 487.077 ballots, or 51.10% of the total valid vote, translating into 57 seats in the Kosovo Parliament.
It is followed by the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) with 20.19% and 15 seats. The Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) placed third, winning 126.163 votes, or 13.24% (15 seats). Next is the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) with 6 seats (5.50%).
Among Serb parties, the Serb List ranked fourth overall, winning 4.49 which secured it nine seats in parliament.
The CEC completed recount of ballots from 2.557 polling stations in late January but at the time did not certify the results fro the Serb List. This decision prompted a strong reaction from the international community. However, following an appeal to the Electoral Complaints and Appeals Panel, it was issued ordering the CEC to publish results of the SL.
According to KoSSev, after the snap parliamentary elections held on 28 December last year, Kosovo was hit by its broadest wave of investigations over suspected manipulation of election results.
The Central Election Commission, after identifying serious discrepancies in checks of 2% of polling stations, decided a month ago to order a full recount of ballots in all municipalities, a move that subsequently led to criminal investigation.
Kosovo police and prosecutors are conducting investigations in nearly all parts of the country.
As KoSSev reports, in Kllokot, 14 people, polling station chairs and board members, were detained last Friday on suspicion of manipulating results during the recount. Similar cases were recorder earlier last week in Gjakova, where 22 polling station chairs were held up to 48 hours, as well as in Decan, where the head of the mayor’s cabinet was arrested.
In early February, a total of 43 people were detained in Mitrovica region on suspicion of vote manipulation at municipal counting centers, while the largest operation was carried out in Prizren, where 109 people were taken into custody. The most striking case was recorded in Prizren, where more than 6.000 votes were attributed to a single PDK candidate.
