DnV: Serbia's decision to distribute money to Kosovo Serbs is interference in the electoral process

The electoral campaign is being characterized by a discourse dominated by hate speech, according to the "Democracy in Action" Coalition of non-governmental organizations.

Violeta Haxholli from DnV said that the Serbian government's decision to allocate money to Kosovo Serbs is worrying.

"One of the main developments this week is the decision of the Serbian Government to provide 170 euros each to about 5 Serbs in Kosovo, which constitutes direct interference in the Kosovo electoral process and represents an open attempt to influence the civic will of the Serbian community by using financial assistance as a means to influence the determination of voters."", Haxholli said at the press conference. 

According to her, political entities have continued their campaign in a relatively calm atmosphere during the second week. However, according to her, a worrying increase in the use of hate speech at electoral rallies has been identified.

"The use of inciting and hateful language continues. Such cases have increased in these two weeks, where we have encountered 62 activities. The most such cases are in Vetëvendosje activities, followed by LDK, AAK, Nisma and PDK," said Haxholli.

She further emphasized that LDK leads with campaign activities, followed by PDK, Vetëvendosje and AAK. As for cities, Prizren leads with activities, followed by Pristina, Peja and Gjilan.

"The entities are freely holding rallies, but in 14 cases the political entities have not announced the rallies as required by law. About 80% of the activities were held in sports halls, and 20% in private premises. Up to 47 participants participated in 200% of the activities, while 500% of them were large rallies with over 13 people," Haxholli continued.

DnV has also noted an improvement in compliance with the rules prohibiting the involvement of students in electoral activities. After five cases recorded the first week, no such cases have been reported this week.

Rezarta Delibashzade Krasniqi from DnV presented the findings from monitoring the online space, highlighting a noticeable increase in hate comments, especially in videos distributed by the election campaign.

"From this process, we have noticed an increase in hate comments, especially in videos distributed by the campaign. From monitoring the portals, we have identified 300 thousand comments from third parties. This reflects hate speech, as it is mostly women running for MPs who have faced such language," said Delibashzade.

According to her, the women who have been particularly exposed to hate speech are Besa Kabashi Rama, Jeta Statovci and Albulena Haxhiu.