UNS and DNKiM: Discriminatory decision by CEC not to accredit Kosovo Online for the second round of local elections

The Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS), together with its branch, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo and Metohija (DNKiM), condemned the discriminatory decision of the Central Election Commission (CEC) in Pristina not to allow the Kosovo Online news portal to cover the second round of local elections in Kosovo.

At its regular session held on Wednesday, the Central Election Commission approved accreditations for observers from political entities, organizations, and media outlets for the second round of local elections. However, Kosovo Online once again did not appear on the list of accredited media.

In addition to observers, the CEC accredited 32 local and international media outlets, including four media reporting in the Serbian language.

At a session held on October 9 this year, the CEC had rejected all Serbian-language media seeking to cover the first round of elections in Kosovo, which took place on October 12.

Only a day later, the CEC reversed its earlier decision and allowed all Serbian-language media that had applied to cover the local elections to do so – except for the Kosovo Online portal. 
This decision came after strong reactions from the media community, the EFJ, IFJ, the OSCE Mission, the German Embassy, and civil society.

In their statement, UNS and DNKiM stress that the question once again arises as to what criteria the CEC uses when deciding which media outlets to accredit. They recall that, during the first round of the electoral process, the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel (ECAP) upheld Kosovo Online’s complaint, but that the CEC did not act on that decision.

The company VIM INFO, the founder of the Kosovo Online portal, duly submitted a request to the Central Election Commission to cover the second round of local elections scheduled for November 9, 2025. However, according to the CEC’s statement from the session, Kosovo Online was not accredited.