Analysts: Vote manipulators should face punitive measures
The vote recount process and the violation of citizens' votes in the early elections for the Assembly of Kosovo and whether this situation could lead to a new political crisis in the country were discussed as topics on today's "RTK Prime" show with analysts and experts on related political processes.
Professor Kadri Kryeziu assessed that the current situation is unprecedented in electoral and parliamentary practice in Kosovo. According to him, although isolated cases have occurred before, they have never occurred in these forms and dimensions. He emphasized that the violation of the vote constitutes a direct violation of the Constitution and at the same time a criminal offense sanctioned by the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo.
Kryeziu stated that persons who have violated the vote, by stealing or manipulating it through various forms, must face punitive measures, while the State Prosecutor's Office is obliged to ex officio prosecute these persons, especially officials who have violated this fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution. According to him, this situation constitutes a deviation from the will of the people and is becoming a phenomenon, since the number of contested votes has exceeded any previous practice.
In the same vein, political scientist Dorajet Imeri emphasized that the voting process is a complex process with many links, involving numerous institutions and individuals, which makes it susceptible to the misformation of the political will of citizens. He assessed that the failure occurred precisely where political parties intervened in the electoral process.
According to Imer, the problems have emerged in the long chain of the electoral process, where political parties have sent their commissioners. He expressed his belief that the votes were not properly preserved and that the commissioners, according to him, likely manipulated the votes.
The political scientist emphasized that a difference of about six thousand votes for a particular candidate cannot be considered human error nor can it occur without the consent of more than one individual.
Imeri added that such manipulation cannot be carried out at just one point in the process, but requires coordinated intervention at several stages, describing the level of intervention as "brutal" in cases where a candidate is billed thousands of votes more.
Meanwhile, analyst Sadik Zeqiri has stated that vote manipulations are not accidental, but the result of an agreement between commissioners of all political parties. According to him, this is a very harmful phenomenon that risks being repeated in future elections.
Zeqiri stressed that this phenomenon must be urgently stopped by amending the Law on the Central Election Commission, initiating amendments to the Assembly of Kosovo. He suggested returning to the closed list model, as in the 2000 elections, or applying the “one vote for one candidate” system, in order to preserve the vote and prevent manipulation during the electoral process.
