The decision of the Central Electoral Commission not to certify the Serbian List for participation in the February 9 elections is considered by some to be without a legal basis, while others say that the CEC is an independent and collegial body and made the decision based on evaluations and evidence. However, according to the election process monitors, this political entity will be certified after the complaint to the Electoral Panel for Complaints and Submissions (PZAP). In this institution, they confirmed for Kosova Press the complaint of the Serbian List, while they said that they will decide on this case within the legal deadline. The researcher at the Democratic Institute of Kosovo, Eugen Cakolli, tells Kosova Press that the initiative to block the certification of the Serbian List for the February 9 elections will fail.
"Yesterday's decision of the CEC not to certify the Serbian List to participate in the elections is a politically motivated decision with no legal basis. Since on the basis of the recommendation that the Office for registration and certification of political parties has recommended that the Serbian List be certified because it has met all the minimum legal criteria as provided by law and CEC regulations. Consequently, the discussions of the members of the CEC due to the statements of the officials of the Serbian List and on the other hand due to the verification by the MIA and the MFA are unstable, since in the first place public statements do not constitute a basis for non-certification of political subjects, as long as they meet the legal criteria", emphasizes Cakolli.
However, the former chairman of the CEC, Mazllum Baraliu, tells KosovaPress that the CEC is an independent and collegial body and, based on evaluations and evidence, has made a decision not to certify the Serbian List for participation in the February 9 elections. According to Barali, the reactions of the QUNIT countries to this decision are unnecessary and direct interference in the work of the CEC.
"Regardless of the recommendations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Central Election Commission is an independent constitutional body. He has the right to make evaluations, analyze the evidence and testimonies for the adequacy or otherwise of the certifications of a political subject based on his own positions or votes. He decided yesterday and now the procedure has not been completed, we are only at the beginning of it. A first instance body has decided and now the dissatisfied party has the right in the administrative procedure in the PZAP, again an independent body, whose decisions the CEC must implement if it decides otherwise. This body decides in the second instance, then there are other appeal institutions, such as the Supreme Court, which may decide eventually, differently or the same as in the first instance. Therefore, this uproar and trumpeting is unnecessary. This is an obstacle to our independent institutions", Baraliu emphasizes.
Lista Serbe is the largest party of Serbs in Kosovo and enjoys the support of official Belgrade. This party had declared that it would participate in the parliamentary elections to be held on February 9 – the first regular elections in Kosovo since the declaration of independence in 2008.
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