Kosovo citizens will vote today at 07:00 in parliamentary elections, where they will elect 120 lawmakers from 28 competing political entities, the first regular elections that Kosovo has held since declaring independence. Political parties have already concluded their election campaigns.
28 political entities with 1,280 candidates have been certified for these elections.
Among the 28 political entities are 20 political parties, five coalitions, two civic initiatives and one independent candidate. Among these entities, in addition to Albanian parties, political entities from the Serbian, Turkish, Bosnian and other smaller communities in the country also participate.
The number of Kosovo citizens with the right to vote is 2,075,868 voters, of which 1,970,944 voters are voters belonging to the Voters' List within Kosovo and 104,924 voters are part of the Voters' List outside Kosovo. The number of new voters who will be able to vote for the first time is 125,852.
The number of voting centers scheduled to open today is 941, of which 903 for regular voting, with a total of 2,533 polling stations, and 38 voting centers for conditional voting (one for each municipality), with a total of 56 polling stations.
Unlike past elections, when the election silence began the day before the voting, with this year's legal changes, it has already started before the opening of the polling centers - that is, tomorrow, at 07:00 and will last until their closing, at 19:00.
In these elections, citizens with the right to vote have the opportunity to choose a political entity and up to ten candidates for deputies, unlike in past elections when it was possible to only elect up to five candidates.
The Central Election Commission has announced that it has already completed all preparations for the smooth conduct of this process.
In these elections, for the first time, Kosovo's diplomatic missions have been turned into voting centers. 16 embassies and 14 consulates of Kosovo opened today, where more than 20,000 registered expatriates were able to vote.
Of the 20,324 registered voters at diplomatic missions for the February 9 parliamentary elections, as announced by the CEC, by 7:00 p.m., over 70 percent had exercised their right to vote.
As announced by the Central Election Commission, of this figure, 14,463 citizens voted, not including polling centers in Washington, Ottawa, Toronto and New York.
This year's election campaign was marked by harsh language, and the Electoral Complaints and Appeals Panel has issued thousands of euros in fines to political parties. The ruling party currently has the highest number of fines from the Complaints and Appeals Panel. (A2 Televizion)
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