Vanovac: What will be happening at polling stations that the Serbian community should not know about?

The decision of the Central Election Commission (CEC) not to accredit any media outlet reporting in the Serbian language to cover Sunday’s local elections is a scandal, stated Ivana Vanovac, President of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo and Metohija (DNKiM), asking what will be happening at polling stations that the Serbian community should not be informed about.

Vanovac said that the media denied accreditation were rejected precisely because they report exclusively in the Serbian language.

She explained that accreditation is the process by which media apply to be present at polling places on election day, and not a license through which someone assesses the credibility of journalists.

“This is a scandal—that is what I would call it. I do not recall ever noticing or seeing anything like this happen in a democratic society, at least not in a society where there are laws that protect media freedom and the right of citizens to receive information in their mother tongue,” Vanovac said.

She noted that immediately upon the publication of the list on the CEC website, DNKiM informed Maja Sever, President of the European Federation of Journalists.

“We will also address the matter through official channels during the evening. In addition, we will write to all instances that we believe should react in this situation and that, by their mandates, are obliged to act and ensure freedom of expression, freedom of the media, and reporting in the mother tongue for the Serbian community in Kosovo,” Vanovac stated.

She expects the CEC’s—what she called—shameful decision to be reversed.

If that does not happen, journalists from newsrooms reporting in the Serbian language have the right to ask what the CEC plans to do on Sunday, 12 October, she added.

“What is it that will be happening at polling stations that the Serbian community should not be informed of or learn about? That is what their move will mean if they do not allow Serbian media to be present on Sunday at polling stations and polling centers and to follow the electoral process through to the end, since we have covered both the campaign and the entire electoral process thus far with the utmost correctness and without serious objections,” the DNKiM President emphasized.

Vanovac added that she is certain there were no valid reasons for such a decision.

“If we exclude ethnicity, there is no other difference that the media who were denied accreditation exhibited in this process,” Vanovac concluded.