Around 200 suspected of falsifying results, investigations also announced against candidates for MPs

A full recount of votes has revealed manipulation of thousands of votes by parliamentary candidates and has put dozens of officials behind bars. Investigations have been expanded to several municipalities, but they have not yet affected the parliamentary candidates. Prosecutor Laura Pula warned that they could also be subject to investigation.

One lost parliamentary mandate, 157 people interviewed, 35 in custody, and five detained for the last 48 hours, is the balance of the vote recount. The large discrepancies that were discovered during the partial recount prompted the CEC to decide on a full recount of all votes in 28 municipalities. The recount process revealed the manipulation of thousands of votes by all political entities that participated in the December 28 elections.

As a result, the chairman of the Turkish Democratic Party of Kosovo, Fikrim Damka, was replaced by his party colleague, Ergyl Mazrek. There were no other moves in terms of securing mandates.

In addition to Prizren and Malisheva, where dozens of officials were stopped, interviewed and detained, the State Prosecutor authorized the Police to launch investigations in Drenas as well.

And on Friday, authorization was also granted for the Municipality of Obiliq.

"During this process, there are suspicions that discrepancies have been observed in the results of the candidates for deputies after the completion of the vote counting in the Municipality of Obiliq. In this regard, the State Prosecutor has issued authorization for the Kosovo Police to begin preliminary investigations, in order to verify the accuracy of the results and determine whether there were possible violations by the responsible persons," the State Prosecution announced.

The evidence obtained so far has shown that in addition to bribery, intimidation was also used to manipulate the election result.

But so far, no investigative procedure has been initiated against the candidates for MPs who benefited from vote manipulation.

The national coordinator for elections from the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor, Laura Pula, warned on KTV's "60 Minutes" show that even candidates for MPs could be subject to investigation.

"We are in the information gathering phase, we are in the material evidence elaboration phase, we are in the interviewing phase of the chairmen who need to be interviewed again together with the commissioners and depending on the results that come out of this phase of the investigation, we will then deal with interviewing or implicating the candidates who, it happens that someone has brought the situation to this point," said Pula.

The recount process is nearing its end. Its completion paves the way for the announcement and certification of the election results, without which the deadlines for the constitution of the Assembly and the formation of the Government cannot begin.