ECAP upholds Kosovo Online’s appeal, returns case to CEC for reconsideration

The Election Complaints and Appeals Panel (ECAP) has upheld the appeal filed by the Kosovo Online portal against the decision of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Kosovo, which had previously denied the outlet accreditation to observe tomorrow’s local elections.

The Panel stated that the CEC’s decision had no basis in the relevant regulations and was merely an expression of the political will of the Commission’s members, thereby violating Article 54 of the Law on General Elections. That article guarantees the right of media organizations to accreditation, “since the rejection of the accreditation request was carried out without justification and without assessment of the criteria and conditions that a media outlet must fulfill in order to obtain the right to accreditation as an observer in local elections.”

As a result, the Panel returned the case to the CEC for reconsideration, instructing the Commission to assess the accreditation request in line with the relevant criteria and legal provisions governing this matter.

In the reasoning of its decision, ECAP recalled that the CEC itself had acknowledged in its original ruling that the media house VIM INFO met the requirements for accreditation, yet it was still denied, without citing any specific reasons.

The Panel noted that the CEC had provided no explanation for denying accreditation and had failed to clarify its position in its response to the media outlet’s appeal. It added that the appellant has the right to receive a reasoned decision from the competent authority regarding the rejection of accreditation. “This right derives from Article 31 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo, in conjunction with Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights,” the decision stated.

The elections are scheduled to begin in 14 hours, but there is still no information on when the next CEC session will be held to reconsider Kosovo Online’s accreditation request.