The Electoral Complaints and Appeals Panel: Appeal by the Serb List upheld, CEC decision flawed and incomplete

The Electoral Complaints and Appeals Panel (IPZP) has upheld the appeal filed by the Serb List and adopted a decision on the certification of the party’s candidates for Members of Parliament in the parliamentary elections scheduled for 28 December.

In response, the Serb List also issued a statement, noting that all 33 candidates have been certified for the upcoming elections.

“We inform the public that, following all the pressure and attempts by Kurti’s regime to obstruct the Serb List, the Electoral Complaints and Appeals Panel has upheld our appeal, annulled the unlawful decision of the Central Election Commission, and confirmed the certification of all 33 candidates of the Serb List for participation in the snap parliamentary elections scheduled for 28 December 2025,” the statement from the Serb List reads.

In its published decision, the IPZP stated that the decision of the Central Election Commission (CEC) not to certify the candidates, adopted at the session held on 10 December, was flawed and incomplete, as it failed to consider key facts and issues relevant to the assessment of whether the legal requirements for the certification of the political entity had been met.

“In the absence of adequate legal reasoning, it is concluded that such a decision cannot legally stand, as it does not contain a proper assessment of the facts in relation to the legal provisions of the Law on General Elections and the Regulation on the Certification of Political Entities,” the IPZP decision states.

It further notes that the Serb List complied with all statutory deadlines for candidate registration and received a positive recommendation from the Office for Registration, Certification and Financial Control, which is why the appeal was deemed well-founded and upheld.

It should be recalled that at its session on 10 December, the Central Election Commission certified the candidates for Members of Parliament of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), but refused to certify the candidates of the Serb List.

At the CEC session, the Acting Head of the Secretariat, Besnik Buzhala, stated that none of the candidates from the PDK, LDK, or the Serb List were in violation of the prescribed provisions.
Nevertheless, two CEC members from the Self-Determination Movement (Vetëvendosje), Sami Kurteshi and Alban Krasniqi, voted against the certification of the Serb List’s candidates, while six members abstained and three voted in favor.

Subsequently, Igor Simić, a member of the Presidency of the Serb List, stated that the party had lodged an appeal against the decision of the Central Election Commission not to certify its candidates for participation in the 28 December elections, stressing that such a decision represents an attempt by Kurti’s regime to impose on Serbs who will represent them in parliament.

Speaking to Kosovo Online, Simić said that the CEC has traditionally adopted unlawful decisions in order to prevent the Serb List from participating in snap parliamentary elections, and is now attempting to deny certification to its candidates for Members of Parliament.

Reacting to the Central Election Commission’s failure to certify the Serb List’s candidates for participation in the snap parliamentary elections, the German Embassy in Pristina stated, in a response to Kosovo Online, that the electoral process and the technical preparations for elections must be free from political maneuvers by political actors.

The German Embassy also pointed to the obstructive behavior of certain members of the Central Election Commission.