Gjakovë, 22 The Institute of Kosovo for KosovoIKD) in the presidency with the Council of State and the Eye of the Vision all have the meeting “Justice in the parliamentary elections 2014” in Gjakovë, with the persons of all other high-level actors. central and local, with candidates of political parties, civil society and the media.
The policy of the table was to raise the debate and sensitize all actors, political parties and the general opinion about the readiness of the body of the action forces for any action in order to manipulate the votes in the parliamentary elections of this 2014. have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation “Related with the 2014 parliamentary elections” which includes the State Prosecutor, the Judicial Council of the Kosovo Police, the Central Election Commission of Kosovo and the Pan Electoral Committee for Complaints and Submissions.
The National Coordination for the election of the State Prosecutor, Mrs. Laura Pula, said that like once before, this time the role of the State Prosecutor is very proactive. “Even this year with the initiative of the Chief State Prosecutor, Mr. Ismet Kabashi, after we have signed the cooperation memorandum, the State Prosecutor and the Kosovo Police have drawn up their own Standard Procedures (PSV), we have seen the operational plan and I inform you that the main principle of the PSV is the arrest and prohibition of responsibility for the person that tries to misuse the election process”. Pula said that on the day of voting, over 100 prosecutors and over 300 employees who are support staff will be taken care of to ensure the election process in case there is a need for the reaction of the prosecution bodies. “Cooperation institutions do everything.
Coordinator Pula emphasized that in PSVs drafted in violation of the legal provisions, the follow-up and investigation of users should be done in all cases, that is, even in those cases, when criminal offenses against the right to vote are committed by the commissioners. are not announced. “In these cases, I did not join the police, we will have the legal provisions to verify and stop all the incriminated persons”. Also, she has announced that public statements not based on evidence and the testimony made will be officially prosecuted for false statements. “This time it does not mean that there is no bombardment of the opinion with which there is no basis to determine the specific purpose, therefore those persons will be prosecuted for the false declaration”.
The chief prosecutor of the Basic Prosecution in Gjakova, Mrs. Shpresa Bakija said that it is the prosecutors who take care of the investigator and the police in Gjakovë, Malishevë and Rahovec. “Like last time, I inform you that we will act without forgiveness against everyone who tries to misuse their vote. We are all at the maximum, so they should vote because of the voting guardians, we are in their content”.
The Deputy General Director of the Kosovo Police, Mr. Naim Rexha said that cooperation between justice institutions has increased the proactive role in the prevention and prosecution of criminal offenses against voting rights. “We, together with the prosecutors, are implementing the PSV… The Kosovo Police has prepared its own action plans and together everything will work to pass a regular election process that meets the standards”.
The judge at the Basic Court of Gjakova, Mr. Gëzim Pozhegu, said that in all the centers of Kosovo and in Gjakovë, a guardian judge has been appointed, who will be ready to respond to all the cases that appear in court. He said that the judiciary is treating election cases with priority according to the policy established by the Kosovo Judicial Council. Pozegu has emphasized that the Criminal Code with the Chapter dedicated to criminal offenses against voting rights has toughened the punishments.
Xhemail Pecani from the Central Election Commission said that the CEC has drawn up an operational plan and made all the preparations to have a regular election process. “Until now, the CEC has appointed permanent and non-permanent staff, held trainings, installed the search website, to let every voter know where they will vote. The CEC is continuing with all the necessary preparations and is ready for these elections”.
Mule Desku from the Electoral Panel for Complaints and Submissions, said that PZAP has the necessary capacities to respond to all complaints. “Both voters and political subjects have the right to submit complaints, and we assure you that PZAP is an independent and impartial body and all complaints will be handled professionally, based on the law.”
Genc Nimoni from the Kosovo Institute for Justice, said that IKD will have monitors in the field who will deal with the reactions of justice institutions. “The Kosovo Institute for Justice will have 40 monitors who will be mobile in all the centers of Kosovo. IKD monitors will monitor the activities of the police and the Prosecutor’s Office on the day of the elections”.
The representatives of the political parties, the majority of them candidates for presidents, have congratulated the initiative and at the same time raised their concerns, which were related to: the cleaning of electoral lists, the large number of invalid ballots from the previous elections, stressing that this happened due to the lack of proper information from the CEC, complaints about the reactions of the police and the prosecutor’s office from the past elections and other issues.
This activity is part of the series of roundtable discussions in the main centers of Kosovo, which take place within the project “Initiative to increase the efficiency of justice institutions for free, fair and democratic elections in Kosovo” which is supported by the British Embassy of Great in Pristina. The next tables will be held in the other four centers such as in Peja, Ferizaj, Mitrovica and Prishtina.
