Criticism of the CEC, the counting of votes for candidates begins late

The Central Election Commission has started counting votes for candidates for deputies and verifying those for political entities to remove all dilemmas after problems with its platform.

The counting started in only 4 municipalities, Prishtina, Lipjan, Obiliq and Partesh, while in 34 others preparations are being made for voting to start on Wednesday.

The local election monitoring mission "Democracy in Action" assesses that the delays in counting the votes of candidates are unacceptable and damage trust in the electoral process, since according to the legislation this process should have started on Monday at 08:00.

"We demand that the CEC engage more intensively with all its capacities, so as not to exceed the legal deadlines and not to create delays that could affect the certification of the results", reports DNV.

The Central Election Commission justified the delays in starting the vote count with "technical and administrative" reasons.

"Since it is an extremely complex undertaking, especially in terms of the aspects of organizing transparency, of course it took a little more time, but it is not a big delay to start counting the ballot boxes, ballots, and votes of candidates for deputies," said Valmir Elezi.

In the Municipal Counting Center in Pristina, as in any other municipality, the counting of regular votes will take place, while the conditional ones will be counted after this phase is completed.

The CEC does not have a deadline for when the counting of regular votes will be closed.

"It depends on how quickly the counting of a polling station will be completed and this is directly related to the participation in each polling station, we believe that within a few days we will be able to conclude this process, but without wanting to give any specific deadline," added Elezi.

The counting of votes in Kosovo is taking place for the first time in municipal centers and recorded with cameras. The process is monitored by observers from political entities, various organizations, and the media. (A2 Televizion)