Repacking the voter lists: According to law or with a touch of politics?

Already last winter, when the results of the census were presented, it was pointed out that they did not reflect the true number of either Serbs or Albanians in Kosovo. Suspicion about the figures persists now that the Central Election Commission (CEC) has announced the number of voters in each municipality. In Serb-majority municipalities in the north, the number has decreased, while in Gracanica it has increased, the Serb List pointed out. The CEC cites the activation of the address system, while interlocutors of Kosovo Online suspect political motives behind it and an attempt to secure the best possible position for Albanian political actors.

Written by: Dusica Radeka Djordjevic

Vice President of the Serb List Igor Simic yesterday pointed to a drastic drop in the number of voters for the upcoming local elections compared to the parliamentary elections held in February.

In the municipality of Leposavic, the number of voters has, according to him, been reduced by 1,508; in North Mitrovica by 1,264. At the same time, in Serb municipalities south of the Ibar, there has been an increase in voters—for example, in Gracanica their number has risen by 10 percent, or 2,444 voters.

“Biologically it is impossible for so many people to suddenly gain voting rights by reaching adulthood,” Simic said, pointing out that the Central Election Commission had made illegal and illegitimate decisions to the detriment of the Serbian people and the Serb List, which the majority of Serbs support.
After representatives of the Serb List filed a complaint with the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel, the CEC tried to explain the fluctuation in voter numbers.

They stated that the reduction of 6,770 voters compared to the parliamentary elections was recorded in 30 municipalities, while in eight municipalities the number of voters increased as a result of the activation of the address system by the Agency for Civil Registration.

According to Miloš Pavkovic, Director of Strategy at the Center for European Policies, the changes in the voter list ahead of the local elections, explained by the “activation of the address system,” represent an attempt at electoral engineering and indirect interference in the organization—and thus the results—of the elections.

“It is evident that the aim is to provide a better position for Albanian political actors, and a worse one for Serbian political representatives, primarily the Serb List. This is clearly a continuation of institutional pressure on the Serbs, in order to diminish their rights, discourage them from participating in political processes, and deny them the chance to be relevant political actors,” Pavkovic told Kosovo Online.

Program Director of the NGO Center for the Advocacy of Democratic Culture from North Mitrovica, Aleksandar Rapajic, pointed out that the increase in the number of citizens registered as voters, particularly from the Albanian community, is not only happening in Gracanica but also in North Mitrovica.

He noted that already in the previous elections, more than a thousand new people were entered into the voter lists.

“With the construction of houses in the north, partly through return and partly through the settlement of Albanians from other municipalities, the number of Albanians in the city is increasing,” Rapajic stressed for Kosovo Online.

He views the situation in Gracanica as a consequence of the census, when a large number of people, although not residing in the municipality’s territory, registered as living there.

“Then, by default, those people were called upon to change their addresses. People who had never voted in Gracanica have now been transferred to vote there because they were recorded in the census as residing in that municipality,” Rapajic explained.

Historian Aleksandar Gudzic said that the CEC was guided by political motives when it decided that residents of the Marigona settlement and other parts of Gracanica where Albanians live could exercise their voting rights in this municipality, even though in previous elections they had voted in other municipalities.

In his view, such a decision by the CEC will affect the election results in Gracanica, where Albanian parties will achieve better results than in the previous election cycle and thus gain greater decision-making power.

“The CEC’s decision is strange. It did not leave the owners of weekend houses, people living in Marigona, as well as those in other settlements where Albanians live, the option to choose, but instead unilaterally decided that they will vote in the municipality of Gracanica. In my opinion, this was deliberately done in order to change the demographic structure and strengthen the Albanian element,” Gudzic told Kosovo Online.

He added that residents of those settlements should have been allowed to decide for themselves where to exercise their voting rights.

“To put it simply: I can own ten houses, but I have residence in one place, and it is there that I can exercise my constitutionally guaranteed right to vote and to be elected,” said Gudzic.
However, he pointed out that the problem in Gracanica is not new but has been ongoing for the past 15 years.

“In the initial phase, Albanian businessmen and construction companies illegally built structures on the territory of the Gracanica municipality, and in the next phase, municipal officials legalized those structures. Now we are in the situation we are in. It did not take a genius to conclude what could happen in the future if the construction of Albanian houses and the settlement of Albanians was allowed.

Perhaps not in this election, but in a future local election, there is a real danger that Albanians could take over the municipality of Gracanica,” he argued.

He added that a similar process took place in the past in Štrpce, which is why he believes a similar problem may be expected in that municipality in the future. Serbian political parties—above all, the Serb List, which enjoys the greatest support among Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija—he said, must stop such processes in the future.

Political analyst Bljerim Burjani told Kosovo Online that the voter list in Kosovo changes every election year, and that the Central Election Commission adopts a decision on a new list, which by law must be up-to-date and credible.

He explained that the list changes depending on demographic factors.

“Each municipality has its own demographic factors, and there are no other standards that influence the list. If something happens beyond that, it means it is against the law. Addresses also affect the voter list if citizens change them,” Burjani noted.

If they have information about double standards, he added, parties may file a complaint with the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel.

The number of voters in the voter list is not the only disputed issue for the Serb List, which has also pointed out that by violating laws and electoral rules, the number of polling board chairpersons delegated by this party is being reduced. One example, they noted, is in Strpce, where the party will have chairpersons at only two of 17 polling stations, while at six polling stations they will have neither a chairperson nor a board member—even though in the parliamentary elections they won 60.6 percent of the vote in that municipality. At the same time, Self-Determination will have seven chairpersons in that municipality, even though in February it won 12.8 percent of the vote, i.e., five times fewer votes than the Serb List.

Pavkovic said that the CEC’s decisions on polling boards also represent a form of institutional pressure.

He assessed that the obvious idea is to reduce the number of polling boards chaired by the Serb List and thereby indirectly weaken its position while improving the position of Albanian political parties.

“And this fits into the broader concept in general, where the Serb List is seen as a hostile structure, unwelcome. We have also seen that no MP from the Serb List was elected as Deputy Speaker of the Assembly. So there is an explicitly hostile stance toward the Serb List, and Self-Determination emphasizes this at every opportunity—from the CEC to the Kosovo Assembly. Everywhere, the Serb List is viewed with mistrust, and efforts are made to deprive it of, or diminish, all the opportunities legally available to it,” Pavkovic concluded.

Rapajic is convinced that pressure on the Serbian community will continue up until election day on October 9, and even on the very day of the vote.

“Since the local elections were announced, we have seen enormous pressure, especially on the Serbian community. There have been attempts not to accept lists and to minimize the number of people appointed to polling boards. There is a certain degree of pressure on the Serbian community in order to reduce the number of people who will turn out to vote. I expect there will also be efforts to prevent people from central Serbia from coming to vote, that there will be problems on election day itself, that many people will not appear on the lists because a census was not organized. So, we can expect all kinds of issues,” Rapajic warned.