Bajraktari: ECAP decision well-founded, no concrete evidence presented against the Serb List candidates

Lawyer Ardijan Bajraktari emphasized that it is judicial bodies—not the Central Election Commission (CEC)—that have the authority to ban the activities of a political entity. Commenting on the decision of the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel (ECAP) to uphold the appeal of the Serb List, Bajraktari stated that such a decision was well-founded.

“Decisions of law enforcement bodies must be implemented. The Serb List has been registered with the CEC since 2017 and certified in accordance with the law, but in the case of elections, it is only the candidates that are certified. If there are allegations of activities against the constitution or against the law, then, under the constitution, judicial bodies are the ones that can prohibit a political entity from carrying out activities—not the CEC,” Bajraktari told Kosovo Online.

He added that, should the political entities which voted against certifying the Serb List submit an appeal to the Supreme Court—something they are entitled to do within 48 hours—the Court’s ruling would be the same as that of ECAP. He explained that this is because party representatives within the CEC failed to present concrete evidence against Serb List candidates for mayoral positions, pointing out that law enforcement bodies issue decisions based on laws and evidence.

“As far as I have seen, the decision of the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel is well-founded. Therefore, any appeal submitted to the courts would have the same outcome as the Panel’s ruling, since law enforcement bodies’ decisions must be based on law and concrete evidence, and, as we have seen, no such evidence was presented by the entities that opposed certification of the Serb List,” Bajraktari concluded.

As a reminder, the Central Election Commission had refused to certify the Serb List for participation in the October 12 local elections, prompting the party to file an appeal which was upheld by ECAP.

In its ruling, ECAP underlined that the Kosovo CEC does not have the right to reject or withhold certification of the electoral list of any political entity or candidate “in an arbitrary manner, without justification.”

Following this decision, the CEC retains the potential right to appeal to the Supreme Court.