Gudzic: The number of voters in Gracanica calls the entire electoral process into question

Historian Aleksandar Gudzic believes that the number of Albanian and Serbian voters in the municipality of Gracanica calls into question the entire electoral process of the repeated parliamentary elections.

He recalls that before the parliamentary elections on 9 February this year, there was a certain number of Albanian and Serbian voters, while before the local elections the number of Albanian voters increased.

“Now, ahead of the repeated parliamentary elections, the number of Albanian voters has decreased, as well as, to some extent, the number of Serbian voters. All of this calls into question the regularity of the electoral process and opens the door to speculation and manipulation, which is something the Central Election Commission and Kosovo institutions should not allow by reducing or increasing the number of voters before parliamentary elections,” Gudzic told Kosovo Online.

If this concerns updating the voter list, in his opinion, it should be done after the electoral process so as not to raise doubts about the election process in Kosovo, which, he notes, already has a fragile democracy with an ongoing institutional crisis.

“All of this casts a negative light on the entire electoral process ahead of us. I do not know the goal and intention of the Central Election Commission. I do not want to believe that this involves tampering with the electoral will or other hidden intentions. In my opinion, this is a clumsy action by the Central Election Commission,” Gudzic stated.