Daka: Kosovo has never been in a more difficult and worse position

Former President of the Central Election Commission Valdete Daka assessed that, due to frequent electoral processes, Kosovo has been dysfunctional and “in a state of standstill” for the past two years, and that as a result it is losing the international reputation it had worked very hard to build, Gazeta Blic reported.

“Besides the fact that Kosovo has been in complete stagnation for two years — that nothing is happening, that almost all functions are being carried out by acting officials, without a functional assembly, and that we do not have the necessary laws adopted — time has practically stood still, and over these two years considerable damage has also been done on the international level. Kosovo is losing the reputation it worked very hard to build, because there are many countries that have not recognized us, and there are also those that still believe the declaration of independence was a mistake. All of this is detrimental to Kosovo,” Daka said.

According to her, the damage is multifaceted, but above all, trust has been lost.

“The situation is such that I believe Kosovo has never been in a more difficult and worse position,” Daka told Gazeta Blic.

Asked whether there was a possibility that elections could be held again this year, even after June 7, Daka said that this could happen if the results are close to those from the previous elections, noting that the party that wins must be prepared to make compromises.

“If we do not see changes in the results, or if we get results similar to those from the previous elections, we will have a situation similar to the one over the past two years — where nobody backs down and there is no compromise. Of course, compromises are expected from the party that wins the elections, not from those that lose, but nevertheless I do not see a very promising perspective for Kosovo,” said the former CEC president and retired judge of the Supreme Court of Kosovo.

She expressed confidence that the CEC had learned lessons from the previous elections and that it would ensure there would be no violations of regulations such as those seen during the elections in December last year.

“However, that remains to be seen after election day, when the counting begins and when the first results start coming in — whether we will have possible complaints or not. Only then will we know what happened during the counting process, because in our country election day itself traditionally passes very smoothly, since citizens have learned that nothing is gained on election day. Everyone fulfills their civic duty and the day ends peacefully, but then all sorts of things happen during the vote count,” Daka said.