CEC held second regular press conference; Radoniqi: Media have been accredited, we are now focused on the elections

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Kosovo held its second regular press conference after polling stations opened this morning at 7 a.m. Responding to our reporter’s question about how he explains the rejection of media accreditations and the fact that, until the very last moment, journalists did not know whether they were allowed to report or why their requests had been denied, CEC Chair Kreshnik Radoniqi said that this had already been explained in the decision.

“That has already been written in the decision, that decision has now passed, the media have since been accredited, and we are now focused on today’s elections,” he said.

The representative of the Self-Determination Movement in the CEC, Sami Kurteshi, stated that the Serb List had held a gathering in front of its offices, which he described as a violation of the code of conduct.

“In the northern part of Mitrovica, the political entity Serb List organized a gathering in front of its offices, which is a violation of the code of conduct, since the election campaign ended with the opening of polling stations. A gathering was held today, and it was massive given the number of people. They also went to polling stations in an organized manner. We have photos showing that the hallways of polling centers were deliberately blocked in order to provoke incidents,” Kurteshi said during the CEC conference.

He then commented on the issue of media accreditation:

“This is the kind of language used by Radio Television of Serbia regarding elections in Kosovo, an inner hatred toward Kosovo and Albanians. We have a media code of conduct, and these are violations of the behavior expected from political entities and the media. The reason we opposed accrediting some Serbian media outlets was this: they did not submit any official documents, only a photographed ID card, front and back, without even a proper request… I demand that RTS and Tanjug have their accreditations revoked due to the hate speech and disinformation they are spreading about today’s elections,” he said.

The CEC announced it would hold five regular press conferences today.

The first one addressed the start of the election process. CEC spokesperson Valmir Elezi stated that election materials, including ballots, had been distributed on time and that voting for mayors and municipal assemblies began as scheduled at all polling centers, except for a few where there had been delays.

The second conference focused on voter turnout by 11 a.m. and the progress of the voting process.

The next press conference is scheduled for 3:30 p.m., when data on turnout by 3 p.m. and updates on the voting process will be presented.