Andric Rakic: It is necessary to insist on ensuring that the votes of voters from Serbia arrive by mail

The Central Election Commission has designated the mailing of so-called voting packages as one of the options for voters living outside Kosovo in the parliamentary elections on February 9, 2025. Milica Andric Rakic, program manager of the NGO Social Initiative, points out that this method of voting for Serbs from Kosovo who live in Serbia and have the right to vote has not been functioning since 2019.

She emphasizes that, since there have been problems with voting by mail for years, most people have been coming by bus to physically vote in Kosovo. She explains that communication between the postal services of Serbia and Kosovo is very poor, so the mail is sent through courier services via North Macedonia or Montenegro.

"In 2019, there was that scandal with the alleged poisoning of votes received by mail, and in 2021, the votes were delayed and arrived after the deadline because postal services in the region were used as intermediaries. This example clearly shows how poorly the communication between the postal services of Serbia and Kosovo works, and that is something that has not been resolved by agreements. But now, when political representatives in Pristina have used the postal service for political purposes, I think that Serbian political representatives should insist that this time it be ensured that all those votes from Serbia arrive in that way. It will certainly be several thousand votes. We know that many people from Kosovo who live in Serbia, for various reasons, do not want to come to Kosovo, but they should definitely have the right to vote," Andric Rakic says.

According to CEC Spokesperson Valmir Elezi, after the parliamentary elections were scheduled for February 9, 2025, voters living outside Kosovo will be able to vote physically in diplomatic missions or in two other ways: by sending a voting package to the CEC post office in Kosovo or to the CEC post office opened outside Kosovo.