Over two million citizens of Kosovo are eligible to vote on June 7 in the early parliamentary elections, organized after the Assembly failed to elect a president. The CEC has distributed election materials to all 38 municipalities, while the process will be monitored by over 16 local and foreign observers. The Prosecution and Police have raised the alarm about attempts at external interference in the electoral process and have engaged additional capacities to preserve the integrity of the vote. And organizing two elections within six months has cost the budget about 20 million euros
Six months after early parliamentary elections, more than two million Kosovo citizens will have the opportunity to return to the ballot boxes on Sunday. The new elections are being held after the Assembly failed to elect a president within the constitutional deadline. For citizens, it is the third time in less than a year and a half that they have gone to the polls for parliamentary elections.
The Central Election Commission teams have already distributed the election material on Saturday morning. The transfer took place under strict security measures. The first destination was the sports hall of the “Daut Bogujevci” primary school in Fushë-Kosovo. The CEC spokesperson, Valmir Elezi, said that the material has been distributed in all 38 municipalities.
"During the early hours of this morning (Saturday), the Central Election Commission distributed election materials, including ballots and other sensitive election materials, such as final voter lists and stamps," he said.
By decision of the CEC, 1 million 778 thousand 300 ballots were printed for Sunday's elections, of which 1 million 605 thousand are intended for regular voting, 19 thousand 450 for conditional voting, 13 thousand 500 reserve ballots, as well as 3 thousand 500 for voting by persons with special needs.
Ballots and other materials that have been placed in the municipal counting centers in each municipality will be distributed to each voting center and polling station on Sunday before 7 a.m., when voting for the early parliamentary elections begins.
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There are 949 voting centers, with a total of 2.550 polling stations throughout Kosovo.
Elezi said that the election materials will be stored by members of the Police until they are distributed to Voting Centers on Sunday.
"During Sunday morning, they will be distributed to the voting centers, which will open at 07:00, to begin the voting process. The delivery of materials from the Counting and Results Center to the Municipal Centers was done as usual under the escort of the Kosovo Police and of course their storage will be done by police officers," said Elezi.
According to the CEC, even in these elections, the number of printed ballots is lower than the total number of eligible voters, and this practice is based on analyses of citizen participation in past electoral processes.
On Friday, non-sensitive election materials, including ballot boxes and booths, and accompanying materials, were distributed to all 38 municipalities. Information technology equipment, including polling station cameras, computers, monitors, and support equipment, was also transported.
2.092.174 citizens are eligible to vote in the early parliamentary elections on June 7. Of these, the number of new voters, who have the chance to vote for the first time, is 22,685.
Kosovo citizens will be able to vote for one of the 21 political entities in the race, which have a total of 902 candidates for deputies.
Alarm from the Prosecutor's Office and the Police
A day before the elections, security authorities announced the measures taken to support the safe conduct of the early election process. The prosecution has activated around 100 prosecutors, while many times more police officers have been deployed. However, in a joint statement by the Police and the Office of the Chief Prosecutor, it was alarmed about foreign interference.
"Over the past few weeks, law enforcement institutions have received and processed numerous pieces of information related to suspicions of foreign interference and illegal activities aimed at influencing the free will of citizens during the electoral process. Foreign interference in elections poses a serious threat to democracy, independence and the free will of citizens," the joint statement from the two institutions states.
On May 19, seven Serbs were arrested on suspicion of criminal offenses related to the violation of the free determination of voters and the exercise of political pressure in the municipality of Gracanica. Meanwhile, on June 4, in the same municipality, another Serb was arrested on suspicion of receiving and giving bribes in connection with voting.
"These actions demonstrate active efforts to interfere in the elections as well as the determination of the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo to protect the integrity of the electoral process and to combat any attempt to unlawfully influence the free will of voters," the statement said.
Authorities have announced that they are continuing to process other information, as well as closely monitoring any activity that could undermine the integrity of the June 7 elections.
Meanwhile, the election coordinator from the State Prosecution Office, Laura Pula, told KHOHA that over 100 prosecutors and officials from the prosecutorial system have been engaged.
"Guardians will remain throughout the territory of the Republic of Kosovo, until the end of the electoral process, in order to proceed with any irregularities that may occur in these elections," she said.
Prosecutor Pula said that the prosecution already has several cases under consideration related to the elections, including cases of vote publication by persons registered to vote by mail.
Following the December 28 elections, the prosecution launched a large number of investigations into the manipulation of the results of many parliamentary candidates at municipal counting centers. So far, only one indictment has been filed.
Over 16 thousand observers
The entire election process on Sunday will be monitored by around 16,600 observers accredited by the Central Election Commission.
According to the CEC, observers represent political entities, non-governmental organizations, the media, international organizations, and diplomatic missions.
"All these observers or these organizations have applied for a certain period of time and they will be able to closely monitor the activities of the CEC, whether on election day or activities taking place in municipal counting centers," said CEC spokesperson Valmir Elezi.
The coalition of government organizations, "Democracy in Action" will have 550 observers on the ground. Eugen Cakolli from this coalition said that in addition to the observers, there will also be a team of about 100 people to process and analyze data, which will be reported on during the day.
"Democracy in Action will observe and report on the opening of the respective centers and polling stations, including any cases of failure to open on time, while during the day at regular intervals we will report on the turnout of voters in the sample we will have, which has an accuracy of almost one hundred percent, as well as on the progress of the process, including the irregularities that have characterized the process as well as potentially serious incidents that may occur during the day," he said.
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The CEC has announced that it will once again rely on the UK Government for the maintenance and security of the online platform for publishing election results. The commission has encountered major problems with the platform in the past, such as in the February 2025 elections, when the server and official website repeatedly crashed on election day. In the December 28 elections, the CEC platform for publishing results was also operational and results began to be published in the first hours after the close of voting.
In addition to the results, the CEC will also publish voter turnout data at three different times.
Cakolli has listed some of the problems that traditionally accompany the electoral process in Kosovo.
"Without a doubt, the problems with assisted voting constitute perhaps the most pronounced problem of election day, and without overlooking it, we must definitely mention the issue of the inability or difficulties of voters to find their voting center due to the changes made by the CEC, despite a very intense and very pronounced campaign by the CEC," he said on Saturday.
Among the accredited international observers are those from the European Union Office, the British Embassy, the German Embassy, the Turkish Embassy and others.
Quiet campaign
"Democracy in Action" in a press conference on Saturday assessed that the election campaign was conducted in a largely peaceful environment.
“The electoral race was open to political entities and communities, reflecting political pluralism and the basic standards of a democratic process. Political entities had the opportunity to develop their electoral activities and communicate with voters throughout the country, through mobilizations on the ground and through digital campaigns,” the DnV assessment said. “In general, the campaign was characterized more by the promotion of political leaders and electoral messages than by the presentation of individual candidates. It is also positive that no significant incidents were recorded in this campaign.”
According to DnV monitoring, the topics that have dominated the election campaign are mainly related to the economy, energy, wages, pensions, social schemes, infrastructure development, and technology.
The DnV has considered the inclusion of a significant number of new candidates as positive. Over half of the candidates are running for the first time for a representative mandate, while the average age of the candidates is around 42 years old. Of the candidates, 34 percent are women, exceeding the minimum threshold for representation. However, the DnV monitoring has shown that the participation of women in television debates, public panels and media space during the campaign has been significantly lower compared to men.
The coalition of non-governmental organizations also assessed that the official 10-day campaign was dominated by large electoral rallies in the main centers of Kosovo. The NGO also highlighted the use of children for political promotion purposes as a practice contrary to the principle of protecting the best interests of the child.
Of particular concern, according to non-governmental organizations, remains the trend of disinformation and the dissemination of unverified information, especially on social networks.
Preliminary observations have also shown that out of 500 official profiles of the main political parties and their candidates, and the candidates of two political entities from the Serbian community, over 100 thousand euros were spent on sponsorship on social media.
The media was considered to have played an important role in informing the public and creating space for political debate during the election period.
"Television interviews and debates have contributed to increasing transparency and public accountability. However, in some cases, media reporting has focused more on political rhetoric and the dynamics of the competition than on analyzing the programs, costs and concrete policies proposed by political entities. Confrontations and debates between candidates for prime minister have been lacking," the DnV assessment states.
For six months, about 20 million euros for early elections
Two early elections organized within six months cost the state budget about 20 million euros just for their organization. For those held on December 28, about 11.5 million euros were allocated, and according to reports that are not yet final, the amount spent is about 7.4 million euros. Meanwhile, for the elections of June 7, 10,8 million euros were allocated.
A number of citizens told KOĦEN on Saturday that they were dissatisfied with this expenditure in times of inflation.
"I know that the money has been damaged, but the state has also been damaged, the people have been damaged, the economic situation, the social situation have all ended badly," said Xhevat Zeqiraj.
"With this money they could have much better financed a school or a kindergarten... they simply had nowhere to spend it. Very, very bad example not only in the Balkans but in Europe," added another citizen.
Researcher at the Democratic Institute of Kosovo, Vullnet Bugaqku, said that politicians do not care about the budget or the interests of citizens.
"For both personal and party calculations and interests, they are not at all carrying that consciousness of responsibility towards the budget, but also towards the public interest," Bugaqku said.
He said that in addition to the budget of around 20 million euros for organizing two early elections, Kosovo is losing much more from institutional paralysis.
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"The damage is very great both in the economic aspect, and in terms of other reforms... in the justice, education and health sectors. But in the economic aspect, they cause very great damage since we are often ending up in elections, we are not able to fulfill some obligations of international agreements nor to enjoy a large number of international funds that we have," he added.
The June 7 elections are being held after the Assembly that emerged from the December 28 elections failed to elect a president within the constitutional deadline. And that Assembly emerged after the regular February 2025 elections, the Assembly failed to elect a new Government. June 7 places Kosovo between two options – a solution for the three institutions or the continuation of the crisis.
