German Embassy: We called for equal treatment of all media

Despite the decision of the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel (ECAP) to uphold the appeal filed by VIM INFO, the founder of the Kosovo Online portal, and to annul the decision of the Central Election Commission (CIK) that denied our reporters accreditation to cover the local elections, the CIK has still not reconsidered the accreditation of our portal — even a day after the first round of elections was held.

As a result, unlike journalists from other media outlets, our reporters were not allowed to attend and cover the vote counting today.

In response to our inquiry as to why Kosovo Online was the only Serbian-language media outlet not granted accreditation to cover the local elections, the German Embassy stated:

“The German Embassy closely followed the accreditation process conducted by the CIK. We called for equal treatment of all media and respect the CIK’s final decision on accreditation,” the Embassy said in a written response.